Perseverance Mars mission thread

[davel]

More complete video of flight.

 

[Marc_G]

Friggin awesome.

 

[JLP1]

I understand the winds can get pretty high at times how do they keep it from getting blown over when it's parked ? Maybe a lame question but was just wondering. I know that if I don't pay attention out at the RC field a sudden gust can blow my planes over. Do they park the rover over it to provide some protection or must it stay out in the open all of the time?

 

[davel]

Keep in mind the density of the Martian atmosphere is only about 1% that of Earth. With such low density, even high winds put little force on an object.

 

[MikeT]

Mike

 

[JLP1]

Yep didn't think about the atmosphere being so thin....

 

[Antares JS]

Yep didn't think about the atmosphere being so thin....

Yeah it's the one thing that makes The Martian scenario not really work. No way is Martian wind going to threaten to blow over that heavy ascent vehicle.

 

[kuririn]

I have read that they are going to try to push Genie over the next 4 flights to go as fast and as far as possible to test the envelope and learn as much information as possible for future designs.
Mimi Aung (Project Manager) said that she wouldn't be surprised if it crashes.
Maybe she's been watching too many Starship videos.

 

[Peartree]

I have read that they are going to try to push Genie over the next 4 flights to go as fast and as far as possible to test the envelope and learn as much information as possible for future designs.
Mimi Aung (Project Manager) said that she wouldn't be surprised if it crashes.
Maybe she's been watching too many Starship videos.

She said something to the effect that they felt they could squeeze in four flights within the 30 day window. It seems that Genie was not designed to, and no one expect her to, survive beyond that 30 day window anyway. If that is the case, there doesn't seem to be anything to be gained by "playing it safe."

 

[kuririn]

More details here:
NASA Team to Push Mars Helicopter 'To the Limit' Until It Crashes (businessinsider.com)

 

[kuririn]

YAIFV
(Yet Another Ingenuity Flight Video)
From NASA, an enhanced video with filter showing the dust kicked up at take off and landing.
The dust was not visible in the first videos since it is the same color as the background.
Enhanced Video Shows Dust During Ingenuity's Flight (nasa.gov)

 

[Funkworks]

Yep didn't think about the atmosphere being so thin....

Maybe enough to squeeze out 1kW per day with a wind turbine!

• Step 1: Send robots to build a wind turbine.
• Step 2: Use the turbine to charge batteries.
• Step 3: Use the batteries to make oxygen with MOXIE. ("Aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover, MOXIE creates oxygen on Mars")
• Step 4: Um ... burn the oxygen to warm a seed and grow a vegetable.

Who wouldn't want a Martian vegetable.

 

[Winston]

Perseverance Rover Panorama in 4K UHD

Made with MastcamZ images from Perseverance Rover / Sol 059 / Jezero Crater / Mars. Source data was denoised, repaired, graded and rescaled for this film.

 

[kuririn]

Aerial photos shot by Ingenuity:
First pic


Second pic


Third pic


You can see Percy's tracks. Also Genie's landing leg pads on the left and right sides.
Pics 1 and 2 you can also see Genie's shadow on the bottom.
Amazing.

 

[kuririn]

Ingenuity's mission has been extended.
Mars helicopter makes 4th flight, gets extra month of flying (msn.com)
Three more flights for a total of seven.
She will be scouting sites for Perseverance's mission.
And she will be moving to a new airfield.

 

[Marc_G]

Yay. And why didn't we think of that? Oh, wait...

 

[Winston]

The tech specs:

Mars Helicopter Technology Demonstrator
2018 AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference

https://rotorcraft.arc.nasa.gov/Publications/files/Balaram_AIAA2018_0023.pdf
Ingenuity overcomes watchdog issue for first extraterrestrial powered flight
April 20, 2021

https://www.eenewseurope.com/news/ingenuity-mars-first-flight-video
Ingenuity uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 801 processor with a Linux operating system as the system controller. This is connected to two flight-control microcontroller units (Mto perform the necessary flight-control functions. It also carries an IMU and a Garmin LIDAR Lite v3 laser altimeter for navigation. Data is relayed to the Perseverance through a low power Zigbee wireless link using a 900MHz SiFlex 02 chipset providing 250 kbit/s bandwidth.

Ingenuity uses a ProASIC3 FPGA for the sensor fusion via an ARM Cortex-M1 soft processor, but it is the dual redundant flight controllers that are the key. These are based on the Texas Instruments TMS570LC43x, based around the ARM R5F real time floating point microcontroller core running at 300MHz. This would be where the watchdog timer issue was. Interestingly the flight code is public and has been uploaded to GitHub (https://github.com/nasa/fprime).

 

[nosecone]

 

[Marc_G]

https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-mars-ingenuity-helicopter-survives-in-flight-anomaly/

 

[Winston]

Ingenuity Status Updates

https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/status/
April 30, 2021
What We’re Learning About Ingenuity’s Flight Control and Aerodynamic Performance

https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/he...s-flight-control-and-aerodynamic-performance/
Details:

May 27, 2021
Surviving an In-Flight Anomaly: What Happened on Ingenuity’s Sixth Flight

https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/he...aly-what-happened-on-ingenuitys-sixth-flight/

 

[bearnard66]

Curiosity Rover has captured stunning images of the rare, shimmering clouds that exist on Mars. clouds are rare on the Red Planet due to its thin, dry atmosphere. Clouds can typically be found at the planet’s equator during the coldest parts of a Martian year when Mars is farthest from the sun.
https://hypebeast.com/2021/5/mars-c...stagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ig_bio

 

[bearnard66]

Another interesting fact. An interesting video about Perseverance and Mars soil. That one kilogram of Mars soil will have an amazing price tag, but also an incredible value. Much more than 1 kilogram of pure cocaine)

 

[Funkworks]

That one kilogram of Mars soil will have an amazing price tag, but also an incredible value.

For a twister, try calculating what a kilogram of pure gold would be worth to a Martian.

 

[kuririn]

For a twister, try calculating what a kilogram of pure gold would be worth to a Martian.

Comes out to 2.576 quatloos.

 

[Woody's Workshop]

I still think we should be spending more to save this planet than investigating other ones.
And spend more on finding out about what's in our oceans at greater depths.
After all, most of the tectonic plate collisions are happening under water.
When this planet can no longer support life because of human activity due to our lack of concern...
We better have a back up planet to move to where we can do the same things to ruin it too.

 

[bearnard66]

I still think we should be spending more to save this planet than investigating other ones.
And spend more on finding out about what's in our oceans at greater depths.
After all, most of the tectonic plate collisions are happening under water.
When this planet can no longer support life because of human activity due to our lack of concern...
We better have a back up planet to move to where we can do the same things to ruin it too.

Yeah, I guess you are right. I support your point. I support that we should work more on environmental preservation campaign and it would be better to save Earth rather than the colonization of other planets

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Mars' atmosphere may be thin but thanks to Mars' 1/3 Earth gravity it reaches altitudes 300+ miles above the surface. Altitudes that here on Earth are considered a complete vacuum.

This is one of the reasons why landing something on Mars is so difficult, its atmosphere is too thin to be of much use but just dense enough to cause problems.

 

[kuririn]

Link (to a download link) of an interesting whitepaper put out by NASA on two possible designs for a future generation Mars science helicopter.
Mars Science Helicopter: Compelling Science Enabled by an Aerial Platform · Vol. 53, Issue 4 (Planetary/Astrobiology Decadal Survey Whitepapers) (aas.org)

 

[bearnard66]

In case you haven`t seen this piece of news. NASA use Ingenuity, which has spent $ 80 million in development, to explore areas that a six-wheeled rover cannot reach, as well as to create 3D maps of the planet’s surface and solve other scientific problems. The purpose of the rover’s mission is to try to find traces of possible existence in the distant past of life on Mars.

 

[bearnard66]

The rover attempted to make history on Friday and collect its first sample of the red planet, but data returned to Earth by Perseverance showed that no rock was collected during its attempt.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/06/world/mars-sample-perseverance-rover-scn/index.html