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INGENUITY Rotor Copter on Mars

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My concern as it sits patiently waiting to fully charge up and get through the testing phases would be the threat of one of those dust devils they have on Mars... and potentially tipping it over before it's maiden flight.
Given how thin the Martian atmosphere is, there's essentially zero chance of that. There's a big difference between whipping up some light dust and tipping over a 1.5 pound (in Martian gravity) machine.
 
Given how thin the Martian atmosphere is, there's essentially zero chance of that. There's a big difference between whipping up some light dust and tipping over a 1.5 pound (in Martian gravity) machine.
You are probably correct... even though those dust devils look ominous, it's probably such fine particles and such little force hopefully nothing to worry about.
 
Oops... I guess they got an error code and the flight is put off at least until the 14th...
 
A little more on what it takes to prepare for a flight on Mars:

 
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Here's the whole thing, the action starts at 37 mins as the downlink controller hands the data off to flight control for analysis. Love that altitude graph:

 
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A major achievement to have successfully flown a heavier than air vehicle on another planet.

And filmed by the Perseverance rover as proof.

So where are the doubting Thomas’s now?
 
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Well done to everyone involved. The science involved in getting an aircraft to another planet in one piece, and then having it fly on its own, is mind blowing!
 
Well done to everyone involved. The science involved in getting an aircraft to another planet in one piece, and then having it fly on its own, is mind blowing!

Absolutely. This opens a whole new future world of exploration possibilities.

Hopefully the next version will have the ability to right itself if it topples. And better batteries. And self replacing rotor blades. At least it doesn’t have to contend with the kind of radio interference back on Earth... or rainy days... or trees!
 
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Analysis of the flight data as it comes in will be highly interesting, particularly the power used and how long the batteries take to recharge after this short (but very exciting) hop.
 
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?
There you go, they got it right, humble pie time?
 
Did they have RID active? Or that was the delay - to download software to activate RID??? Gotta follow the rules.

Seriously though, this is amazing stuff. Can't wait to see what they do with it. I wonder if they can use it to blow the dust off the crawler's solar panels if they get covered with too much dust?
 
I wonder if they can use it to blow the dust off the crawler's solar panels if they get covered with too much dust?
That is not a silly idea actually. I seem to recall that problem lead to the premature end of one of the Mars missions.
 
That is not a silly idea actually. I seem to recall that problem lead to the premature end of one of the Mars missions.
A while back one of the rovers died because of this. It was just written off and basically forgotten. Then all of a sudden, months later, it suddenly boots up and continues its mission. One of the dust devils came through and cleaned of the solar panels. So many amazing things happening
 
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Just amazing tech, great to see it got through the first vertical flight ok, think it's going higher next and some lateral flight.

Apparently it is VERY loud

MAS are releasing Stealth props for this one next week, should help not upset the locals.

That Mars drone has to be over 400 feet high. Visual line of sight flying is for everyone‘s safety, even little green men. The FAA should come down hard on these NASA guys.

NASA - "Come on mate !! Who am I bothering !!!" :D;)
 
A major achievement to have successfully flown a heavier than air vehicle on another planet.

And filmed by the Perseverance rover as proof.

So where are the doubting Thomas’s now?
I think that anyone who doubted it did not do the research that was available... as soon as I saw the testing in a huge vacuum chamber (to 1% earth atmosphere) and with a lift cable to simulate the 40% less gravity I had full confidence. As with all new electronics I had faith in the overall design, but always worry about the software and programing to be autonomous.
 
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