Photo of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter taken by NASA’s Preseverance spacecraft. Photo: NASA. Open a new door Ingenuity attached to the belly of the Perseverance probe landed together inside Mars’ 45 km wide Jezero crater on February 18. On April 3, a solar-powered helicopter was dropped from Perseverance’s belly. NASA is expected to make history on the Red Planet with its first self-powered flight powered by energy. “That is extremely important. Technological inventions will open a door to completely different tools. And for me, that’s very interesting. We still haven’t envisioned all the benefits of this new technology, ”said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s Deputy Administrator. Ingenuity is considered a “technology show”. Because, the expected flight of this helicopter on Mars is designed simply to demonstrate the efficiency of the technology. Although there is an onboard camera to take pictures during the mission, it’s the only feature on the plane that is not directly related to Ingenuity’s take-off. “The speed of light is too slow for us to actually control it in real time,” said Mr. Zurbuchen. In addition, the team must find a way for the helicopter to fly over Mars in a challenging environment, with a very thin atmosphere. Obviously, flying on another planet is not easy for helicopters. This is an exciting moment in the history of spacecraft and technology. Many people questioned whether Ingenuity was equipped with any technology application to achieve such a feat. Scientists hope to use Ingenuity to explore in the future, according to Zurbuchen. Because, a small helicopter can “probe many places that we can not go to by plane”. The expert also explains that Mars has some interesting things. The crater walls and other destinations will be interesting to study up close, while astronauts won’t be able to explore. In the future, helicopters could be an important asset for both robot and human exploration on the Red Planet, Mr. Zurbuchen said. However, as mentioned before, Mr. Zurbuchen said, there are many applications to this technology that are yet to be developed. Science breakthrough The deployment of the Ingenuity helicopter flight plan on Mars aims to demonstrate that humans can fly in the extremely low density, reduced gravity and extreme temperatures of the red planet. In addition, the amount of sunlight the planet receives is only half that of Earth; At night temperatures down to -90 degrees C cause electronic components to crack and freeze if left unprotected. While a mission on Mars is not an easy task, NASA is confident that this small helicopter can overcome the challenge. However, the first flight will be at low altitude and take place shortly. Members of the mission group said, Ingenuity (weighing 1.8 kg) is expected to fly no more than 3 meters above the floor of the Jezero crater on Mars. The helicopter will stay high for 40 seconds or so. However, even such a modest flight time would be an achievement. Because, Mars’ atmosphere is only 1% thicker of Earth. Aircraft generate lift by pushing air. However, according to Project Director Ingenuity – MiMi Aung, of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, on Mars, there are fewer molecules to propel. That disadvantage outweighs the benefit that helicopters get from Mars’ weaker gravity. So Ingenuity has to behave a little differently from its predecessors on Earth. Specifically, Ingenuity propellers are made of carbon fiber, made for Mars. They are particularly large compared to the overall 48 cm high helicopter. Each wing extends 1.2 m. Those propellers will spin at about 2,500 rpm to bring Ingenuity off the ground. This is much faster than that required by a 4lb motor. Besides, Mars is also a place where the cold is “piercing”. Perseverance measured the Red Planet’s nighttime temperature to minus 117.4 degrees F (minus 83 degrees C) on the surface of Jezero. So Ingenuity has a fireplace so it won’t freeze. Currently, it takes more than 15 minutes for an order to be sent from the control agency on Earth to Mars. Real-time operation with the joystick is therefore not an option. Flight orders must be sent in advance. However, that doesn’t mean Ingenuity is going to be in trouble. This helicopter will be able to do many tasks on its own. For example, Ingenuity can analyze photos captured by the downward-facing camera. From there, locate it. The images will be in black and white. Ingenuity is also capable of 13-megapixel color photography. There are a series of complicated devices that are inserted into the “small body” of Ingenuity, although the helicopter does not carry any scientific tools. Cameras, electrical systems, avionics systems, and communications equipment for data transfer to Perseverance were all introduced into Ingenuity. In fact, the size of devices like objects has made it impossible for many helicopter missions on Mars. Ms. Aung and her colleagues tested Ingenity extensively on Earth before launching. Ingenuity used to have to fly in a special chamber at the JPL – which simulates the conditions of the Red Planet. Thanks to that, Ingenuity has been doing well on the Jezero crater since its separation from Perseverance. Therefore, the scientists expressed confidence in Ingenuity’s mission. If successful, Ingenuity will fly again – up to 5 times in about a month. Ingenuity helicopters pave the way for future space exploration.

The entire NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the state of California burst out loud, clapping. After more than 10 days of delay, the Ingenuity helicopter weighing only 1.8 kg, worth $ 85 million of NASA, took off successfully on Mars. This victory is likened to NASA as the living moment of the Wright brothers (USA) who successfully made the first flight on Earth in 1903. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) tweeted immediately after Ingenuity’s success: “Perseverance has brought us to Mars. And Ingenuity takes us higher.” “. NASA’s Mission Control Room at (JPL) received a 14-minute delay in success signal because of a distance of 289 million kilometers from Mars. Photo: NASA The moment in which the Mission Control room was delighted to hear that Ingenuity had successfully flown on Mars. Photo: Reuters “Now, 118 years after the Wright brothers successfully made the first flight on our planet in the 20th century, the Ingenuity helicopter has succeeded in performing this amazing feat in the world. another – the Red Planet – in the 21st century “- NASA Deputy Science Director Thomas Zurbuchen said. At a distance of 289 million km (from Earth to Mars), the Ingenuity Mars helicopter has done a miracle, unprecedented in history: Automatically refuel from the Sun, automatically fly to a maximum prescribed height of 3 meters and maintain that altitude stable for 30 seconds, then a gentle landing on the surface of the Red Planet. The whole process took 39.1 seconds. 39.1 seconds is only two-thirds of the time of a minute. The time is extremely short but is a wonderful fruit for the efforts of thousands of minds to contribute to Mars Mission 2020 of NASA. It took NASA nearly a decade to prepare for this feat. SURVIVAL WITH SUCKS Dr. Daniel Brown, an astronomy expert at Nottingham Trent University (UK), described sending something flying to Mars as a ‘staggering feat’. The biggest challenge of the Ingenuity engineering team is the flying environment on Mars: – First money. So far, no one (human) has set foot on Mars. All scientists know is simulate that environment through data and images transmitted by NASA’s self-propelled explorer ship back to Earth. – Second, the Mars environment is known for its harshness: The difference in temperature between day and night can “kill” human machines, in particular, Ingenuity helicopters are too small, too light (this is required technical conditions for test flight). Not to mention, the Red Planet does not have a magnetic field, the gravity one third that of Earth; and the atmosphere is extremely thin, only 1% of the pressure on the surface of our planet. Basic construction of the Mars Ingenuity helicopter. Photo of Vietnameseization: Trang Ly / Trang Dinh [Đọc thêm về cấu tạo của trực thăng Ingenuity: ‘Mổ xẻ’ trực thăng 85 triệu USD đang ‘sống tốt’ trên sao Hỏa: Sáng tạo khoa học táo bạo bậc nhất của Mỹ!] This means that in order to fly, the helicopter must be super light and turn its wings extremely fast to gain lift. Therefore, the blades of Ingenuity reach 2,500 rpm. Each propeller on the Ingenuity is made of a 57-gram composite material that powers a chopper body the size of a tissue box! OPEN THE WAY TO DISCOVER THE NEW SKY To further mark the link between the Martian Ingenuity helicopter and the Wright brothers ‘maiden flight, NASA confirmed it had named the first Mars airport (where the Ingenuity helicopter took off) as’ Wright Brothers. Field ‘. “We don’t know exactly where Ingenuity will lead us, but today’s results show that the sky – at least on Mars – may not be the limit,” said NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk. . Just as the Wright Brothers’ flight ushered in human exploration of the sky on Earth, Ingenuity’s mission has sparked a new wave of exciting projects, poised to take the discovery of distant world to a new level. In 2027, NASA plans to launch Dragonfly mission his highly anticipated, in which a helicopter will fly over the sky of Saturn’s moon Titan. Other missions to explore distant atmospheres – such as Venus’s cloud survey mission – may soon emerge. THE MISSION OF INGENUITY NOT STOP HERE … The NASA team plans to have Ingenuity more test flights in the next few days, with up to five bolder flights over the next 30 days assuming each is successful. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter captured this scene as it hovered over the Martian surface on April 19, 2021, during its first controlled, powered flight. another planet. It uses the navigation camera, which automatically tracks the ground during flight. Source: NASA / JPL-Caltech After its first flight, the Ingenuity helicopter sent the Mars Perseverance self-propelled explorer technical data on what it had done, including a single black-and-white photo from a ground-facing camera and information. that was transmitted back to Earth. The Ingenuity helicopter that was traveling to Mars, attached to the underside of Perseverance, touched down on February 18, 2021 as part of a mission to look for signs of extraterrestrial life. Refer: NASA, Popularmechanics, DM