NASA delayed Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s first flight attempt to no sooner than April 14 after a high-speed rotor blade spin test ended earlier than expected.
Despite the three-day delay, “the helicopter is safe & healthy” as the team diagnoses what happened, NASA/JPL said.
The first flight attempt had been set for Sunday and the delay was announced in a tweet on Saturday morning. Originally, NASA wanted to attempt the first flight in the tech demo on April 5.
Data arrived late Friday night indicating that the command sequence controlling the rotor spin test ended early due to a “watchdog” timer expiration, NASA explained in a status update report. The expiration occurred as the drone tried to transition the flight computer from ‘pre-flight’ to ‘flight’ mode.
The watchdog timer oversees the command sequence and alerts the system to any potential issues, NASA said. “It helps the system stay safe by not proceeding if an issue is observed and worked as planned,” NASA said.
NASA is reviewing telemetry and had not rescheduled the full-speed test as of Saturday afternoon.
On April 7, Ingenuity successfully unlocked the rotor blades allowing them to spin freely but at a much slower speed than it needs to achieve lift. The full speed of the helicopter is about 2400 rpm, several times the speed of rotor blades on Earthbound drones.
Ingenuity was tested repeatedly in a 25-foot space simulator on Earth, which was adjusted to Mars pressure and temperature. The high-speed spinup of the rotors was designed to occur at an angle of attack that would not have allowed the helicopter to achieve lift, NASA said in a tweet.
NASA officials have been careful to describe Ingenuity as a technology demonstration. On Friday, officials held an online event describing how engineers are able to learn from various setbacks.
MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager at JPL, invoked the story of how the Wright Brothers failed to fly on their first attempt before a successful flight on Dec. 17, 1903.
With a technology demonstration, engineers learn from repeated attempts, she said. “This is a first of its kind system,” Aung said. “The process Is: design, test, adjust, repeat.”
During her presentation on Friday, Aung said Ingenuity was “set to go, so far so good, knock on wood,” as she gestured knocking on her head.
“We will test, prove and learn regardless of the outcome,” Aung said on Friday. “Regardless, we will learn. We have done everything we can. If we don’t make that first attempt, we won’t make progress forward.”
On Twitter some comments made light of the delay. “Have you tried slapping it? My TV remote starts working perfectly when I slap it,” one comment read.
“Have you tried turning it off and back on again?” another comment read.
Even though Ingenuity is a tech demo, NASA/JPL engineers are hopeful to prove that a drone can fly on Mars, which would be useful in guiding rovers in future missions and in exploring caves and cliffs that would be impossible to reach.
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