Not Mavic related but clearly news. NASA's Perseverance is down on Mars and communicating with Earth using spacecraft orbiting the red planet. The rover also has a helicopter named Ingenuity strapped to its belly that will deploy shortly after a safe landing on the red planet. Will it fly in Atti Mode ? Exciting new technology, flying waypoint, short missions, on Mars.
INGENUITY Rotor Copter on Mars
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CactusJackSlade
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The tech behind this aircraft that must fly in an air density of only 1% that of earth is impressive... There are videos out there showing it flying in a "1% atmosphere with a helper cable to simulate the correct amount of gravity.
Cool stuff... Apparently it is VERY loud with blades going near 3000 rpm (compared to about 500 for a normal helicopter)
Cool stuff... Apparently it is VERY loud with blades going near 3000 rpm (compared to about 500 for a normal helicopter)
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that's an interesting looking bird, counterrotating props and a tether. As I said looking forward to footage.
Comparing sound of a full sized heli to ingenuity based purely on head speed is a pointless exercise, especially to the extent you might assume it would be louder. How fast do you think the rotors on your drone spin? Significantly faster than 3000 rpm....
icecoldgin
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It shoud fly VLOS of Percy otherwise the martian FAA will be on its case ?
dirkclod
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I thought it was pretty good, haven’t seen that character since I was a kid watching the bugs bunny show and then he turns up on Mars. 
The drone will be 100% autonomous once launched (rather a guaranteed state of things when you factor in ~10-40 minute round-trip time for communication with Earth depending on the relative positions of the planets).
I think they are limited to max RPM on Mars way more then on Earth. Mars atmosphere is above 90% CO2, low density and low temperature will results in lower speed of sound, by quite a lot. I’m surprised by the shape of those blades, they would fly on earth for sure but in Mars atmosphere? Air flow, separation ,Reynolds number, lifting efficiency, lifting force are all completely different from what we have on Earth. Imagine flying anything with props at altitude 36-37km??? in -90C Balloons have a hard time to go that high.
Rectangular solar panel is just very bizarre, I wonder why it is not round? It looks strange and it will interfere with harmonics every rotation, makes no sense. Anyone has theory for it?
Mavic Mini prop at hover 12000rpm mavic pro 4000-5000, props are limited by velocity of the tip, generally everyone wants to keep it below speed of sound.
Ok I will be first to call it: I would be surprised this thing will fly on Mars, it would have to spin much faster than 3000 RMP to create enough trust. Any prop experts?
It’s already been test flown under the same conditions as Mars’ atmosphere and simulated gravity and it flys fine. NASA doesn’t spend hundreds of millions of $ without obsessive testing first.
Are you referring to this single test video available on youtube? Looks like my drone light
It seems they only did fluid dynamics and extensive "proof of concept" testing, Imagine atmosphere 100 times less dense with completely different dynamic, yet the props looks quite similar to "earth" props
as you said, I would also expect some "real life testing" like high altitude flight from balloon at 35km+ that would be cool to watch, or flight in extreme cold at -90C, How small drone like theirs holds batteries warm over night? little solar panel on the top would not be enough to warm it up.
I have watch landing video and it seems they added a lot of drama and totally no science. Looks like theater for 10years olds.
Crane landing.... Elon has hard time controlling 3 engines, those boys control like 8 jets
in atmosphere only 1% of earth, it would take a lot of fuel to stop this thing.I remember few years back jump from high altitude, jumper crossed speed of sound at terminal velocity, On Mars air is still thiner than during that jump...
Whatever they have done looks very fake, yes I'm sceptical especially they do not provide any scientific data, just one guy breathing hard to show he is is very excited (that thing was creepy), now we will wait for 3 days for telemetry data.... when signal takes 4.5-20min to travel...
Their drone initial cost was 25 Millions withlast number 85M so not that expensive after all.
Are you saying this is dodgy.Are you referring to this single test video available on youtube? Looks like my drone light
It seems they only did fluid dynamics and extensive "proof of concept" testing, Imagine atmosphere 100 times less dense with completely different dynamic, yet the props looks quite similar to "earth" props
as you said, I would also expect some "real life testing" like high altitude flight from balloon at 35km+ that would be cool to watch, or flight in extreme cold at -90C, How small drone like theirs holds batteries warm over night? little solar panel on the top would not be enough to warm it up.
I have watch landing video and it seems they added a lot of drama and totally no science. Looks like theater for 10years olds.
Crane landing.... Elon has hard time controlling 3 engines, those boys control like 8 jets
I remember few years back jump from high altitude, jumper crossed speed of sound at terminal velocity, On Mars air is still thiner than during that jump...
Whatever they have done looks very fake, yes I'm sceptical especially they do not provide any scientific data, just one guy breathing hard to show he is is very excited (that thing was creepy), now we will wait for 3 days for telemetry data.... when signal takes 4.5-20min to travel...
Their drone initial cost was 25 Millions withlast number 85M so not that expensive after all.
No, I just would love to see more test videos with data, we all think/say they test so extensively in different environments etc…but when you try find something it is all fluid dynamics computer simulations and theory.
Elon Musk has hard time landing “relatively simple” rocket in Earth atmosphere, but those few guys "bam" land way more complicated device on Mars and on top of that will do “helicopter flight”
I would love to see their journey a bit more transparent. I would love to see their journey a bit more transparent. Less heavy breathing, and more telemetry data, thats all
CactusJackSlade
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Not based on head speed, but that and size and pitch of the props.... and what the technicians said during the testing... and the sound from the video.
CactusJackSlade
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The video above was done in a 1% atmosphere with a top tether to reduce it's weight to simulate Martian gravity. IMO, they have already proven flight in "near" Mars conditions.... my money says it will fly - assuming no mechanical difficulties.
Also: The max speed of any propeller as you mentioned is the speed of sound at the tips, the only other option they have is way over sized and over pitched for the 1% atmosphere.
They have done a ton of testing in vacuum chambers and there is actually quite a bit of data out there if interested.
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