Staggering amounts of science and technology research are happening every day on Mars with the recent arrival of the Perseverance rover and the upcoming flight demo of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter on April 11.
The 4-pound Ingenuity was dropped lightly from the belly of Perseverance to the surface of Mars on Saturday. Then Perseverance drove off and took a photo of its buddy that NASA tweeted:
Now Ingenuity faces more tests before its first flight, no sooner than April 11. (Earlier, scientists said it might be April 8.) Part of its mission is to absorb solar rays to generate heat to survive the cold Martian nights.
The helicopter landed intact on the belly of the rover on Feb. 18 and Perseverance dropped its protective shield on March 21. Then the helicopter slowly rotated into position upright and unfolded its four spindly legs before the final drop of 4 inches.
NASA recorded a video of the helicopter touchdown process during the development phase:
After a short first flight takes place, there could be as many as five forays over 31 Earth days. Ingenuity is equipped with cameras to help in navigation and take airborne photos, but Perseverance will be close by to use its cameras to record the moment.
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Studying the data
NASA noted that entry, descent and landing of Perseverance and Ingenuity on Feb. 18 generated plenty of data that will valuable for future missions.
A set of sensors and electronics called MEDLI2 (Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation 2) onboard the rover’s protective aeroshell collected data during descent. All the data was stored on the rover for transmission after the successful landing.
MEDLI2’s main purpose was to capture data about the harsh entry environment through the planet’s thin atmosphere. There were three types of sensors—themocouples, heat flux sensors and pressure transducers. Other electronics recorded thermal and pressure loads felt through the entry and parachute deployment.
These instruments measured the heat and atmospheric forces felt on the heat shield and back shell, which make up the aeroshell to protect Perseverance.
According to NASA/JPL, MEDLI2 was powered on five hours before the final 7-minute descent and turned off about 10 seconds after the parachute deployed.
The peak temperature in the heat shield at entry was 1,830 degrees F, NASA reported this week. NASA/JPL engineers will analyze the data for six months to fine tune insights about the atmosphere and entry conditions to be used in designing future Mars missions and missions to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.
Chips and sensors on board
An estimated 1,000 companies and organizations have products or research work associated with different parts of the Mars 2020 mission. Major chipmakers including Qualcomm, Renesas and AMS ag have contributed to different aspects.
AMS provided CMV20000 and CMV4000 CMOS image sensors used on the rover, the company said this week.
The robust Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductors are also used in industrial applications on Earth. Nine CMB20000 20-megapixel images sensors are used for surface operations in navigation and hazard avoidance cameras and a special camera for gathering images of Martian dirt inside sample tubes.
The rover’s SuperCam is used to examine rocks and soil with a color camera, laser and spectrometer combo, which could be helpful to find organic compounds showing past life on Mars. Targets as small as a pencil point can be seen from 20 feet, helped by a 4-megapixel CMV4000 image sensor.
