NASA = A small helicopter onboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Mars rover succeeded in a test flight on Mars on the 19th.


This is the first time an aircraft has flown on a planet other than Earth, and it is expected to be applied to future exploration.

NASA's Mars rover "Perseverance", which landed on Mars in February, is equipped with a small helicopter "Ingenuity" developed to see if the aircraft can fly even in the thin atmosphere of Mars. , Is one of the main plans for this exploration.



The first test flight of this helicopter took place on the 19th, and the data that arrived on Earth showed that the flight was successful.



The footage taken by the rover "Perseverance" shows the helicopter floating off the ground.



Also, the pictures taken from the helicopter show the shadow of the flying helicopter.



The flight time is about 40 seconds, and it is said that it succeeded in flying while maintaining a height of 3 meters for 30 seconds.



It is the first time in the history of space development that a powered aircraft will fly on a planet other than the Earth, and NASA's acting Secretary of State Jersey said, "117 years after the Wright brothers' first flight, NASA will make an amazing flight to the earth. I succeeded outside. "



Flight tests will be conducted four times in the future.



If we know that helicopters can be used on Mars, it is expected that future exploration plans will enable us to explore places that cannot be approached from the ground.

What is "Ingenuity"?

"Ingenuity" is a small helicopter with a height of about 50 cm and a weight of about 1.8 kg.



Powered by sun-charged batteries, it is designed to fly up to 5 meters in height and up to 300 meters in flight distance.



Mars has about one-third the gravity of the earth, but the density of the atmosphere is about 1%, which is a harsh environment for aircraft that fly using the flow of air.



For this reason, Ingenuity flies by rotating double rotors, each rotating in different directions, about 2400 times per minute, which is several times faster than a helicopter flying on Earth.



The flight test was originally scheduled for 14th of this month, but was postponed to 19th due to a problem found in the software that controls the helicopter and work to fix it.



If the landing failed, there was no way to return to the original attitude, so the test flight was carefully conducted, such as limiting the altitude to about 3 meters.



When data showing the success of the flight arrived at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, which controls the helicopter, the scientists involved in the test jumped in and were delighted.



"I am very excited and relieved that the historic flight test was successful," Tallinn Bailey, one of the engineers involved in the development, told NHK in an interview.



"Ingenuity" is not equipped with scientific equipment for exploration, but if flight technology is demonstrated, helicopters may be available for future exploration plans.



Bailey said, "The helicopter will expand the exploration range and allow us to explore areas that cannot be reached from the ground. In the future, if humans explore Mars, we can use it like a drone." I told you.