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| Percivience Rover small helicopter aboard the Mars rover begins its historic flight to Mars in early April © AFP=News1 © News1 Won Tae-Sung |
A micro-helicopter (a type of drone) detached from Percivience Rover, which landed on Mars on February 18, successfully survived the harsh weather, taking a step closer to its first historic flight on a planet other than Earth.
On the 5th (local time), CNN reported that the Ingenuity, an ultra-compact helicopter weighing about 1.8 kg, separated from the Percivience Rover developed by NASA, spent the first night safely on the surface of Mars, falling to -90 degrees below zero. .
The place where Ingenuage was settled is the crash zone (Jezero), which is estimated to have existed a river 3.5 billion years ago.
All attention was paid to whether Ingenuity could withstand the first night on Mars, as the temperature at night could drop to -90 degrees Celsius, causing freezing and cracking of Mars helicopter parts and battery damage.
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| On the 4th (local time), NASA’s Mars exploration rover’Personality’, a helicopter, separated from’Personality’, is seen landing on the surface of Mars. © AFP=News1 © News1 Reporter Dongmyeong Woo |
In a statement on the day, Mimi Aung, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Research Institute, said, “As Ingenuity survived its first night on Mars well, it marked an important milestone for future flights.”
NASA is scheduled to begin its first historic flight on the 11th after inspecting the helicopter wings and drive motors, a device that measures the direction and angle of the helicopter’s fuselage, an autonomous flight device, and a solar panel.
The Mars helicopter plans to take high-resolution photos and transmit them to Earth while flying the atmosphere of Mars, which is only 1% of the Earth’s density, for 30 days at 1m/sec at 3m.
Meanwhile, Ingenuity went to Mars to commemorate its first flight on a planet other than Earth, NASA said, with a sample of a piece of cloth from the Wright brothers’ first-powered flight on Earth in 1903.
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| The expected movement of Ingenuity, an ultra-compact helicopter that will soon begin its first historic flight from Mars. © AFP=News1 © News1 Reporter Won Tae-sung |