How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
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How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
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Re: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
#2Obligatory Veritasium video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhsZUZmJvaM
Re: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
#3What's the point of flying a helicopter on Mars? What scientifically relevant data do you get? Its fun and cool but why?
Re: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
#4I find, besides all the extremely exciting, technical challenges, the following sentence incredibly fascinating:
> "This [is] the first time we’ll be flying Linux on Mars."
But regardless of that, I find it so incredibly cool and inspiring that during my lifetime, a human flying vehicle will fly on Mars. I was a space nut in my childhood and youth and love to see this.
Re: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
#5What's the point of flying a helicopter on Mars? What scientifically relevant data do you get? Its fun and cool but why?
Well, you may be able to get places a rover can't. But as they say in the article, this is just a demonstrator to show if they can fly on Mars at all.
Re: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
#6What's the point of flying a helicopter on Mars? What scientifically relevant data do you get? Its fun and cool but why?
I would have thought atmospheric data that you can't get elsewhere - you'd be able to learn things about pressure and wind at altitudes that rovers can't get to.
Re: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
#7What's the point of flying a helicopter on Mars? What scientifically relevant data do you get? Its fun and cool but why?
* Scouting possible destinations or routes for the rover.
* Imaging areas from above with higher fidelity than possible from orbit, and from angles not possible from a rover.
* Retrieving samples from areas inaccessible for a rover.
Re: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
#8So many interesting details in this article. Snapdragon 801-based hw running Linux, sensor fusion from three sensors whereof some bought COTS from sparkfun (who make breakout boards for sensors, basically the sensor datasheet recommended design). 3 flights planned, but potentially more which will be planned after the three first. 30 day lifetime window, due to dependecy on the rover, which needs to conserve resources.
I would looooove to know more more more about this. What did dev of this look like (eg simulators)? What's the flight envelope? What are the most important risks and how are they mitigated? What internal discussions took place (do this, prio that, don't do X etc).
Just so much interesting stuff! Can't wait :)
edit: from wikipedia: "Each flight is planned to be at altitudes ranging from 3–5 metres (10–16 ft) above the ground.[1] In up to 90 seconds per flight, it could travel as far as 50 metres (160 ft) downrange and then back to the starting area".
"The helicopter uses counter-rotating coaxial rotors about 1.2 metres (4 ft) in diameter".
Etc. Recommend the wiki page on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Helicopter_Ingenuity
Re: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
#9What's the point of flying a helicopter on Mars? What scientifically relevant data do you get? Its fun and cool but why?
It's just a demonstrator but can travel 100m in each 90 second flight.
For comparison, the Curiosity rover has travelled 23 km over 8 years.
Re: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars
#10Unfortunately the article does not talk about how this helicopter would fare in a sandstorm. Are the winds strong enough to tip it over?