Washington (AFP)
The NASA Ingenuity mini-helicopter, which arrived on Mars in February attached to the Perseverance rover, has just detached from it and is therefore now on the surface of the Red Planet, NASA announced.
"The helicopter of Mars is on the ground!", Tweeted Saturday evening the laboratory of the American space agency which manages the program.
This ultralight helicopter, which looks like a large drone, had arrived folded up and strapped under the Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars on February 18, and remained there until the rover reached where it should have take place the theft.
"Its 293 million mile (471 million km) journey ended with this small 4 inch (10 cm) jump from the rover's belly to the surface of Mars. Next test: survive the night", the lab tweeted again.
A photo accompanying the tweet showed Perseverance walking away from the helicopter.
He absolutely must clear his sight in less than 25 hours, because the helicopter will need the sun to supply its solar panels with energy, and thus be able to survive by warming itself during the frosty Martian nights.
Ingenuity has so far fed off the rover's energy, but now it will have to fend for itself.
"There is a small radiator which allows to maintain a temperature of about 7 ° Celsius inside the helicopter, while the temperatures at night on Mars can drop to -90 °, explained Friday Bob Balaram, chief engineer of the Mars Helicopter project.
"This helps protect the key equipment of the device," he added.
For the next two days, the ground crew will verify that the solar panels are working as expected, before starting to test the motors and sensors before the first flight, which is not expected to take place until April 11.
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