NASA's more popular Ingenuity helicopter is now slated to try out the first-ever powered flight on yet another world at 3:30AM ET this Monday. The popular twin-blade rotorcraft will attempt ascending 10 feet above the ground and try to hover in place for a total of 30 seconds while its cameras would be on the NASA Perseverance rover trying to record this historical attempt from a significant distance.
What is the Helicopter Sent by NASA to Mars Called?
According to the story by The Verge, the really light four-pound Ingenuity copter previously landed on planet Mars on Feb 18 while attached to the Perseverance underbelly which is NASA's latest Mars rover designed to search for any possible signs of ancient Martian life. The Perseverance rover has set aside time just to witness Ingenuity's first ever attempt and report the strong results back to Earth.
Ingenuity helicopter's soon flight on Monday will test out the very first out of five flights planned within a whole 31-day period that kicked off just last week. If everything will go well, NASA engineers at the official Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, will then start planning out for the upcoming four. The upcoming flights could potentially see the craft try to reach higher altitudes, travel farther, and more. However, this still completely depends on the success of this upcoming flight attempt.
🎶Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle 🎶
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) April 9, 2021
With just a little bit of swing, the #MarsHelicopter has moved its blades & spun to 50 rpm in preparation for first flight! Takeoff is slated for April 11, with confirmation expected overnight into April 12 for us Earthlings. https://t.co/TNCdXWcKWE pic.twitter.com/EpDZymjP13
NASA Ingenuity Helicopter First Flight
JPL engineers have reportedly sought to set up certain expectations for the upcoming test flight during the more recent press conference. Elsa Jensen, an operations lead for the cameras that are on board the Perseverance rover that are expected to be fixed on Ingenuity noted that the process is really difficult.
So far, the tests have all gone well over the last week. Jansen then added that they are expecting surprises for sure. JPL engineers have to cover all bases in order for the upcoming flight to be successful and to prepare for any possible complications that could arise.
This flight will be the first in a string of attempts hoping to gain more data about Mars and possible work towards the ultimate mission of sending astronauts to the red planet. The data is extremely important since it will help scientists on Earth understand the red planet.
Read Also: China Makes Moves to Reach Interstellar Space by the Mid-Century
How to Watch Online
If the flight really does take off on Monday, NASA will reportedly be live streaming the event starting at about 6:15AM ET on Monday hosted directly on the official NASA social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and of course, it's official website.
Because of the really long delay between what's happening on Mars and Earth, viewers won't technically be seeing a live video of the supposed attempt since it will probably take about a few days in order to get the footage. Instead, NASA's upcoming livestream will show the engineers gradually analyzing the given data they receive from Mars which will confirm if the Ingenuity survived the attempt or not.
Related Article: Elon Musk Announces Starlink Will Be Fully Mobile Late 2021: Users Can Use it On RV or Trucks in Motion
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian Buenconsejo
