NASA experts postponed the fourteenth flight of the Mars helicopter "Ingenuity" for an indefinite period - this is due to both the impending connection of the Sun and Mars, and unresolved problems in the operation of the skew machine, it is reported on the agency's website.
Ingenuity has been operating on Mars since April of this year. At the moment, the first Martian drone has made thirteen flights instead of the planned five, having survived three major failures, and is engaged in aerial reconnaissance of the area as part of an expanded scientific program, which was recently extended indefinitely.
On September 15, 2021, Ingenuity conducted a static test to promote its blades to a record 2,800 revolutions per minute. This was necessary to test the possibility of creating additional thrust, since due to the change of seasons on Mars, the density of the air mixture in the daytime near the surface of the planet can fall to 0.0145–0.0185 kilograms per cubic meter, which is equivalent to 1.2–1.5 percent of the density of the Earth's atmosphere at sea level. Of particular interest to the engineers was the vibration test of the drone design due to the very high spin of the screws, which can lead to its breakdown. As a result, the tests were successful, all the drone systems worked flawlessly.
The fourteenth flight of the drone was to take place on September 18, during which the drone was to briefly take off five meters up, spinning its blades to 2,700 revolutions per minute. However, the flight did not take place — during an automatic pre-flight check, the drone detected an anomaly in the operation of two of the six servos that are responsible for the operation of the skew machine . They began to oscillate with an amplitude of about one degree relative to their set positions, which led to the cancellation of the flight.
The device of the part of the drone's skew machine responsible for the upper screw.
Image Source: NASA / JPL-Caltech
On September 21 and 23, engineers conducted additional tests to better understand the problem. It is assumed that either the wear of the moving elements in the drone mechanisms begins to manifest itself, or after a trial high-speed spin of the screws, the upper screw remained in such a position that an unforeseen load was created during the check on the servos, which the automation began to try to extinguish, which led to abnormal fluctuations.
The unresolved problem, as well as the impending upper connection of the Sun and Mars, led to the postponement of the fourteenth flight of the drone for an indefinite period, since communication between Earth and Mars will be poor. It is expected that work with the helicopter and the pErseverance rover will resume no earlier than October 16.
Earlier we talked about how China presented a prototype of its Martian unmanned helicopter.
Alexander Voityuk
