NASA Mars Copter Flight Delayed For Tech Check

| April 12, 2021 | Astronomy | No Comments

Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – Based on data from the Ingenuity Mars helicopter that arrived late Friday night, NASA has chosen to reschedule the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s first experimental flight to no earlier than April 14.

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APR 10, 2021 More from Astronomy and Astrophysics 1 2 User comments Whydening Gyre Apr 11, 2021 Like the first Kitty Hawk flight?!? Not even close... 0 Report Block goldeneye 23 hours ago hang in there little one, nasa's disabling your watchdog. 0 Report Block cleanearth2 23 hours ago hang in there little one, nasa's disabling your watchdog. At best... At worst, firmware change and at the very worst hardware failure then it would be curtains for that mission... Just strange that it takes almost a week for them to resolve the problem even with the slow transmitting speeds. And here the only discussion i could find: https://www.rcgro...46916745 But .....lets hope for the best case scenario ! 2 Report Block SURFIN85 22 hours ago This is a great explainer - debunker - insights into the challenges. https://www.youtu...DBNzAtPs 0 Report Block retrosurf 18 hours ago Watchdog timer expired, so one can presume that either the watchdog being set was erroneous, in which case they'll disable the watchdog and figure out why it was still set; or the process that is supposed to periodically reset the watchdog didn't reset the watchdog, in which case they'll be looking to see why the watchdog was not reset. A week seems like fast work, actually, for a piece of hardware that is over 5 light minutes away, that can only operate autonomously, and that is the cumulative product of 9 years of clock time, and dog knows how many staff hours. They have to figure out what's wrong, evaluate and review a fix, test, deploy, and test the fix here locally; regression test *everything* they've got tests for, assess and address risks, build and package the update, schedule the deployment and staff on the DSN, verify proper installation, run pre-tests, and likely dozens of things all along the way that are completely necessary. 2 Report Block danR 17 hours ago Watchdog timer expired, so one can presume that either the watchdog being set was erroneous, in which case they'll disable the watchdog and figure out why it was still set; or the process that is supposed to periodically reset the watchdog didn't reset the watchdog, in which case they'll be looking to see why the watchdog was not reset. Ingenuity's avionics package is doubly redundant; is there one watchdog chip on each board, or a single watchdog? If there is just one, is it super radiation-hardened? btw, I notice they've put avionics at the lowest possible point in the chassis, including a big ol' battery atop everything. Good plan. 0 Report Block danR 16 hours ago This is a great explainer - debunker - insights into the challenges. https://www youtube com/watch?v=2xSDBNzAtPs I pretty sure NASA would have known before the two years ago that thunderf00t posted that typically thuderf00tian rant how to shield them neodydlium magnets from Martian dust. They've been testing their explorer gizmos for many years with Martian soil/dust proxies. He's more entertaining doing what he does best: Bashing Elon, and he couldn't resist a jab in that video as well. 0 Report Block rrwillsj 16 hours ago as comicbook silly i think wasting time , Human resources & funding voyaging too Mars would be? i suddenly have this overwhelming craving too see a video of Elon Musk in a marssuit retrieving the Ingenuity, blowing off the dust & tossing it into the Mars air.... where in the hell did that image come from? 0 Report Block thomasct 13 hours ago nasa should have landed this almost 1B$ tax-paid project near Cydonia/ Surely their's more interesting 'stuff' there, for didn't nasa in the 1980s photo ancient cities? Nasa tasked the U of AZ with that project. Under strict nasa protocols, evidence of previous civilizations was erased.. but not before researcher Hoagland's team had downloaded the original data. See the ancient Mars cities here and scroll down for the expose. . Search. and write in FULL.... ''THEMIS Infra-red images of Cydonia Ghost Town... and The Darkness by Richard Hoagland from EnterpriseMission website.' and.. ''SearchGate. Digital imagery analysis of unusual Martian surface. Dr. Mark J Carlotto. General Dynamics''. (the FACE)! Cities? Mars was thrown out of its Goldilocks orbit in 195,960BC, when the 3rd inhabited Planet in our Sol System, Milona/Phaeton was destroyed in a local war. It's remains formed the Asteroid Belt. Tens of millions of humans died on both Planets. Data from ET in theyfly dot com 0 Report Block rrwillsj 11 hours ago contrary too yec comicbooks, planets do not explode they may get pulverizedby something in the same weight-class or bigger but even then, much of the battered mass would be in a ballistic orbit eventually being dragged back into a new aggregate by accumulative mutual gravitational attraction that's why, after dozens? hundreds? thousands? of millions & billions of years so many of what we are calling asteroids? are actually dust-clods 0 Report Block Surveillance_Egg_Unit 11 hours ago @thomasct Your repetitious tale of "Mars was thrown out of its Goldilocks orbit in 195,960BC, when Milona/Phaeton was destroyed in a local war." makes no sense -- Then you go on to say that "tens of millions of HUMANS died on both planets." Science tells us that the HUMAN SPECIES in its present form is ONLY 200,000 years old because it EVOLVED from an earlier prototype that wasn't a sentient or sapient being but more closer to an animal. Richard Hoagland seems to be determined to stick to his belief that "The Face on Mars" was originally a sculpture of a face, but it has long gone to ruin and destruction, so that there is really NO way to tell what it had been originally. You aren't going to convince anyone of anything in this site by having them access theyfly.com simply because that website is too full of garbage and weirdness. There is no science there. 0 Report Block goldeneye 6 hours ago Ingenuity has only one chance for a few seconds of flight. little ones electric motor spun its rotors to full speed, shows little ones battery, electric motor and rotor bearings working perfectly! Ingenuity doesn't need protective electronics to the extent of switching of its electric motor, because little ones first flight is highly likely to be its last. little one is now sitting forlornly, fit as a fiddle, rearing to fly, cut short, by an ambivalent watchdog! 0 Report Block Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more Email Password Forgot Password Registration Medical Xpress Medical research advances and health news Tech Xplore The latest engineering, electronics and technology advances Science X The most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web Newsletters Email Science X Daily and the Weekly Email Newsletter are free features that allow you to receive your favorite sci-tech news updates in your email inbox Follow us Top Home Search Mobile version Help FAQ About Contact Science X Account Sponsored Account Archive News wire Android app iOS app RSS feeds Push notification © Phys.org 2003 - 2021 powered by Science X Network Privacy policy Terms of use Save 1 / 1NASA has delayed the Mars flight of its Ingenuity helicopterNASA has delayed the Mars flight of its Ingenuity helicopter.

The 4-pound (1.8-kg) rotorcraft was expected to take off from Mars’ Jezero Crater Sunday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. local Mars solar time (10:54 p.m. EDT), hovering 10 feet (3 meters) above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Mission control specialists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California expect to receive the first data from the first flight attempt the following morning at around 4:15 a.m. EDT.

“While Ingenuity carries no science instruments, the little helicopter is already making its presence felt across the world, as future leaders follow its progress toward an unprecedented first flight,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters.

“We do tech demos like this to push the envelope of our experience and provide something on which the next missions and the next generation can build. Just as Ingenuity was inspired by the Wright brothers, future explorers will take off using both the data and inspiration from this mission.”

During a high-speed spin test of the rotors on Friday, the command sequence controlling the test ended early due to a “watchdog” timer expiration.

This occurred as it was trying to transition the flight computer from ‘Pre-Flight’ to ‘Flight’ mode. The helicopter is safe and healthy and communicated its full telemetry set to Earth.

The watchdog timer oversees the command sequence and alerts the system to any potential issues. It helps the system stay safe by not proceeding if an issue is observed and worked as planned.

The helicopter team is reviewing telemetry to diagnose and understand the issue. Following that, they will reschedule the full-speed test.

The Mars Helicopter is a high-risk, high-reward technology demonstration. If Ingenuity were to encounter difficulties during its 30-sol (Martian day) mission, it would not impact the science gathering of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover mission.

Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff

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