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Ingenuity (helicopter)

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"Mars Helicopter" redirects here. For Mars helicopters and other rotorcraft in general, see Mars aircraft.

Ingenuity
Part of Mars 2020
Ingenuity helicopter deployed on the Martian surface by the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover
TypeUAV helicopter
Other name(s)
  • Mars 2020 helicopter
  • Ginny
ManufacturerJet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)
Specifications
Dimensions
  • Fuselage (body): 13.6 cm × 19.5 cm × 16.3 cm (5.4 in × 7.7 in × 6.4 in)[1]
  • Landing legs: 0.384 m (1 ft 3.1 in)[1]
Power350 watts[1][2]
Instruments

Ingenuity is a small robotic helicopter located on Mars since February 18, 2021 that is intended to be the first aircraft on Mars as well as make the powered and controlled atmospheric flight on any planet beyond Earth.[3] Part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, the small coaxial, drone rotorcraft will serve as a technology demonstrator for the potential use of flying probes on other worlds, with the potential to scout locations of interest and support the future planning of driving routes for Mars rovers.[4][5][1]

Ingenuity, now on the Martian surface, was attached to the underside of the Perseverance rover. Its deployment was originally planned for April 8, 2021,[6][7][8] about 60 days after Perseverance's landing at the Octavia E. Butler Landing site in Jezero crater, take off is planned for no sooner than April 11, 2021.[9] The rover is expected to drive approximately 100 m (330 ft) away from the drone to allow it a safe "buffer zone" in which it will attempt to fly.[10][11] Ingenuity is expected to fly up to five times during its 30-day test campaign scheduled early in the rover's mission. Primarily technology demonstrations,[1][12] each flight is planned to fly at altitudes ranging from 3–5 m (10–16 ft) above the ground.[1] for up to 90 seconds each. Ingenuity, which can travel up to 50 m (160 ft) downrange and then back to the starting area,[1] will use autonomous control during its short flights, which will be telerobotically planned and scripted by operators at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It will communicate directly with the Perseverance rover after each landing.

If Ingenuity works as expected, NASA could build on its design to extend the aerial component of future Mars missions.[13] The project is led by MiMi Aung at the JPL.[14] Other contributors include AeroVironment, Inc., the NASA Ames Research Center, and the NASA Langley Research Center.[15]

Ingenuity carries a piece of fabric from the wing of the 1903 Wright Flyer, the Wright Brothers' airplane, humanity's first controlled powered flight on Earth.

Name

The vehicle was named Ingenuity by Vaneeza Ruppani, a girl in the 11th grade at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama, who submitted an essay into NASA's "Name the Rover" contest.[16][17] Known in planning stages as the Mars Helicopter Scout,[18] or simply the Mars Helicopter[19] the nickname Ginny later entered use in parallel to the parent rover Perseverance being affectionately referred to as Percy.[20]

Design

Diagram showing the components of Ingenuity
Flight characteristics of Ingenuity
Rotor speed 2400 rpm[1][19]
Blade tip speed <0.7 Mach[18]
Operational time 1 to 5 flights within 30 sols[1][2]
Flight time Up to 90 seconds per flight[1]
Maximum range, flight 50 m (160 ft)[1]
Maximum range, radio 1,000 m (3,300 ft)[13]
Maximum planned altitude 5 m (16 ft)[1]
Maximum speed
  • Horizontal: 10 m/s (33 ft/s)[15]
  • Vertical: 3 m/s (9.8 ft/s)[15]
Battery capacity 35–40 Wh (130–140 kJ)[3]

Because the atmosphere of Mars is only about 1⁄100 as dense as that of Earth at surface level,[21] it is much harder for an aircraft to generate lift, a difficulty only partially offset by Mars' lower gravity (about a third of Earth's).[4] Liftoff from Mars' surface has been described as equivalent to flying at 100,000 ft (30,000 m) above Earth, an altitude that has never been reached by existing helicopters.[4]

Ingenuity is designed to be a technology demonstrator by JPL to assess whether this technology can fly safely, and provide better mapping and guidance that would give future mission controllers more information to help with travel routes planning and hazard avoidance, as well as identifying points of interest for the rover.[22][23][24] The helicopter is designed to provide overhead images with approximately ten times the resolution of orbital images, and will provide images of features that may be occluded from the cameras of the Perseverance rover.[25] It is expected that such scouting may enable future rovers to safely drive up to three times as far per sol.[26]

The helicopter uses contra-rotating coaxial rotors about 1.2 m (4 ft) in diameter. Its payload is a high resolution downward-looking camera for navigation, landing, and science surveying of the terrain, and a communication system to relay data to the Perseverance rover.[27] Although it is an aircraft, it was constructed to spacecraft specifications in order to endure the g-force and vibration during launch.[28] It also includes radiation-resistant systems capable of operating in the frigid environment of Mars. The inconsistent Mars magnetic field precludes the use of a compass for navigation, so it uses a solar tracker camera integrated to JPL's visual inertial navigation system. Some additional inputs include gyros, visual odometry, tilt sensors, altimeter, and hazard detectors.[29] It was designed to use solar panels to recharge its batteries, which are six Sony Li-ion cells with 35–40 Wh (130–140 kJ) of battery energy capacity[3] (nameplate capacity of 2 Ah).[13]

The helicopter uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with a Linux operating system.[30] Among other functions, this processor controls the visual navigation algorithm via a velocity estimate derived from features tracked with a camera.[13] The Qualcomm processor is connected to two flight-control microcontroller units (MCUs) to perform the necessary flight-control functions.[13] It also carries an IMU and a Garmin LIDAR Lite v3 laser altimeter.[30] Communications with the rover are through a radio link using low-power Zigbee communication protocols, implemented via 900 MHz SiFlex 02 chipsets mounted in both the rover and helicopter.[13] The communication system is designed to relay data at 250 kbit/s over distances of up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).[13]

Development

NASA's JPL and AeroVironment published the conceptual design in 2014 for a scout helicopter to accompany a rover.[15][31][32] By mid 2016, US$15 million was being requested to keep development of the helicopter on track.[33] By December 2017, engineering models of the vehicle had been tested in a simulated Martian atmosphere[13][34] and models were undergoing testing in the Arctic, but its inclusion in the mission had not yet been approved nor funded.[35] The United States federal budget, announced in March 2018, provided US$23 million for the helicopter for one year[36][37] and it was announced on 11 May 2018 that the helicopter could be developed and tested in time to be included in the Mars 2020 mission.[38] The helicopter underwent extensive flight-dynamics and environment testing,[13][39] and was then mounted on the underside of the Perseverance rover in August 2019.[40] Its mass is just under 1.8 kg (4.0 lb)[39] and JPL has specified that it is planned to have a design life of five flights on Mars.[41][38] NASA has invested about US$80 million to build Ingenuity and about US$5 million to operate the helicopter.[42]

Preliminary tests on Earth

In 2019, preliminary designs of Ingenuity were tested on Earth in simulated Mars atmospheric and gravity conditions. For flight testing, a large vacuum chamber was used to simulate the very low atmospheric pressure of Mars – filled with carbon dioxide to approximately 0.60% (about 1⁄160) of standard atmospheric pressure at sea level on Earth – which is roughly equivalent to a helicopter flying at 34,000 m (112,000 ft) altitude in the atmosphere of Earth. In order to simulate the much reduced gravity field of Mars (38% of Earth's), 62% of Earth's gravity was offset by a line pulling upwards during flight tests.[3]

Future Mars rover design iteration

The Ingenuity technology demonstrator could form the foundation on which more capable aircraft might be developed for aerial exploration of Mars and other planetary targets with an atmosphere.[22][13][43] The next generation of rotorcraft could be in the range between 5 and 15 kg (11 and 33 lb) with science payloads between 0.5 and 1.5 kg (1.1 and 3.3 lb). These potential aircraft could have direct communication to an orbiter and may or may not continue to work with a landed asset.[11] Future helicopters could be used to explore special regions with exposed water ice or brines, where Earth microbial life could potentially survive. Mars helicopters may also be considered for fast retrieval of small sample caches back to a Mars ascent vehicle for return to Earth such as the one to be launched in 2026.[42][13]

Mission profile

Ingenuity was deployed on April 3rd, 2021[44], after landing with the rover Perseverance in the crater Jezero at Octavia E. Butler Landing on 18 February 2021 and removal of debris shield on 21 March 2021.[9] After deployment, the rover is expected to drive approximately 100 m (330 ft) away from the drone to allow it a safe "buffer zone" in which it will attempt to fly in April 2021.[45][11] The Ingenuity helicopter is expected to fly up to five times during its 30-day test campaign in April 2021, early in the rover's mission.[1][12] Each flight is planned to be at altitudes ranging from 3–5 m (10–16 ft) above the ground.[1] In up to 90 seconds per flight, it could travel as far as 50 m (160 ft) downrange and then back to the starting area.[1] It will use autonomous control during its short flights, although flights will be telerobotically planned and scripted by operators at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It will communicate with the Perseverance rover directly after each landing.

Commemorative artifacts

Tribute to Wright Brothers

A small piece of the wing covering from the Wright brothers' 1903 Wright Flyer, the first powered aircraft on Earth, is attached to a cable underneath Ingenuity's solar panel.[46] In 1969 Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong carried a similar Wright Flyer artifact to the Moon in the Lunar Module Eagle.

Flight tests on Mars

Mars Ingenuity helicopter tests
Flight zone and rover locations
Flight zone map
Rover view of flight zone
Flight zone activities
Ingenuity helicopter deployment from under Perseverance rover
Ingenuity in shield under rover
Debris shield removed
Rover moves away
Deployment begins
Fully vertical
Legs deployed
Successful deployment on Mars

See also


Map of Mars
Interactive image map of the global topography of Mars, overlaid with the position of Martian rovers and landers. Coloring of the base map indicates relative elevations of Martian surface.
Clickable image: Clicking on the labels will open a new article.
(   Active •   Inactive •   Planned)
Bradbury Landing
Deep Space 2
Mars Polar Lander
Perseverance
Schiaparelli EDM
Spirit
Viking 1

References

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