On Aug. 7, NASA’s Mars helicopter, dubbed Ingenuity, successfully powered up for the first time in space, one week into its near seven-month journey to Mars aboard the Perseverance rover. Ingenuity will be the first helicopter ever to fly to the red planet, or any other planet for that matter and is scheduled to arrive on Mars by Feb. 18, 2021.
On July 30, Nasa launched the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover with the helicopter in tow, as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. A week later, the helicopter’s six lithium-ion batteries were powered up and charged through interplanetary space. Ingenuity currently receives its charge from the rover’s power supply. The helicopter only weighs 4-lb. (1.8 kilograms) and is stored on the Perseverance’s belly while it’s traveling.
Tim Canham, the Mars Helicopter operations lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), explained:
This was a big milestone, as it was our first opportunity to turn on Ingenuity and give its electronics a ‘test drive’ since we launched on July 30. Since everything went by the book, we’ll perform the same activity about every two weeks to maintain an acceptable state of charge.
It took eight hours to charge the batteries, during which NASA crew tested and checked their performance. To maintain top battery health, the cells were only charged to 35% of their maximum level.
At some point after the Perseverance lands on Martian ground, Ingenuity will detach from the rover, and take a few pioneering test flights. The helicopter’s batteries will also be charged by its own solar panel after the deployment on Mars.
MiMi Aung, JPL’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter project manager, said:
This charge activity shows we have survived launch and that so far we can handle the harsh environment of interplanetary space. We have a lot more firsts to go before we can attempt the first experimental flight test on another planet, but right now, we are all feeling very good about the future.
If all goes well, Ingenuity will prove that robotic flights are possible on the red planet and paves the way for humankind’s first flight on an alien world.
