Creativity Helicopter broke new (aerial?) ground in April 2019, When he transmitted his first flight data – the first powered and controlled flight on another planet– to NASA scientists on Earth.
But now it appears that Ingenuity has absolutely no interest in communicating with its engineering team; Recently, the Mars Helicopter has made intermittent and unexpected contact with NASA scientists.
The communications breakdown makes it difficult for the Ingenuity team to maneuver the rover around the Martian landscape — and, more importantly, within range but safely away from the Perseverance rover, the real star of the Mars 2020 program.
Based on Status update By Travis Browne, Communication issues at Ingenuity, Chief Engineer, began in earnest after the 49th Ingenuity flight on April 2, 2023, which set helicopter altitude and speed records.
After downloading data from Flight 49, the Ingenuity team was unable to transmit instructions for the orbiter’s next flight.
Ingenuity’s communications problems, Brown writes, go back further than that. Shortly after the orbiter’s 40th flight in January 2023, Ingenuity began experiencing “deep blackouts” — periods when the helicopter switches to the low-power mode that keeps the craft alive through the harsh Martian winter nights. Last year, the reason for the decline in consumption was due to the cold NASA engineers have expressed similar concerns about the helicopter’s survival.
It’s hard to predict when creativity will wake up from these interruptions, which makes it difficult for the team to coordinate their roller coaster rides. Meanwhile, the Endurance continued its march along the western edge of Jezero Crater, exploring a dry river delta in search of geologically and biologically interesting areas.
On Sol 755, the team lost contact with the helicopter again and there was radio silence for the next week (a solar trip to Mars, or a Martian day, takes about 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds). The team begins to consider the possibility of creativity dying. Brown said Blog entry. However, individual radio sounds on Machinery 761 and 762 emphasized the space helicopter’s fearless tenacity.
The team determined that the Martian backbone between endurance and creativity was holding back the helicopter’s communication. Since creativity I went from a tech demonstration of flying other worlds to an endurance scoutThe helicopter tasked with examining the Jezero Delta usually precedes the rover’s expected path.
This was the helicopter team’s 50th flight. They were able to send flight instructions to the rover when Perseverance approached it and came within 80 meters of the helicopter.
Brown noted that the dust on the helicopter’s solar panels means that the cat-and-mouse game can continue as creativity may struggle for strength. Hopefully, the team will not experience a similar backlog Insight mission completed at the end of last year.
More: Looks like NASA needs a second babysitter to return an ambitious Mars sample
