NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Prepares for First Flight

Helicopter flying to Mars... First off-earth power flight challenge

Ingenuity helicopter by NASA was folded up under the Percy rover.(Supplied: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

After arriving on Mars on the 19th, Perseverance will begin an experiment in March to fly the first motorized vehicle “Ingenuity ”(pictured) on Mars.

During the first month, Perseverance focuses on checking the condition of the equipment, such as unfolding the mast with high-definition cameras and photographing around the landing point. Afterwards, she moves in search of a flat place to unload the next leap in the space travel, a small helicopter with two rotors (rotator blades) weighing 1.8kg which is mounted on the floor of Perseverance.

Ingenuity, which means ‘creativity’ in English, aims to fly 150m round trip from 5m in 90 seconds. If successful, it’ll become the very first powered aircraft that human has launched from a place other than Earth. Mars' atmosphere is one-hundredth of the Earth's atmosphere, so it needs more power because there is not enough air to make it fly. If Ingenuity succeeds in flying, a means of drones will be added to humans' future exploration of Mars, which will explore places where rovers cannot go.

Afterwards, Perseverance set out on a special mission to collect Martian soil. It is a crucial mission to secure hint of traces of alien life on Mars. Perseverance plans to collect more than 30 specimens while moving around the area at a speed of 2.5m per minute. When a rock with traces of water is found, a drill attached to the end of a 2m long robotic arm pierces the rock and collects only a piece of 5cm long chalk.

Collected soil is then saved in an air tight container taken from the earth to seal for a dispatch in future. The sample collection container is 15 cm long and made of titanium. It can hold approximately 15 grams of material and Percy has a total of 43 containers. Five are left empty to determine if they contain only igneous material compared to the sample container. The task of sending the soil to Earth is left to the next probe. After discovering a suitable location, the container then first buried in the ground in order to store for future dispatch. The NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) sends a sample collection probe to the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2026. The Mars mission is aimed to be sent out in 2028 & return to Earth in 2031 with that saved soil.

It is also conducting tests to create oxygen using carbon dioxide, which is 96% of Mars' atmosphere. It is an experiment in which dust and pollutants are removed and carbon dioxide is converted into oxygen after sucking in the atmosphere of Mars using equipment called 'MOXIE'.