A photograph taken by the Perseverance rover of the Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars in A

A photograph taken by the Perseverance rover of the Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars in April 2021, just after the rover deployed the chopper. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Mars helicopter Ingenuity recovering from communications blackout | Space The drone is back in contact and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory hopes to soon return it to normal operationsIngenuity appears to be in recovery from a communications glitch on Mars.NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) reestablished contact with the miniature Mars chopper Thursday (May 5) after it missed a scheduled call-in about two days before, the agency reported Friday (May 6).Engineers suggest that the helicopter may have entered a low power state due to a combination of high levels of dust in the atmosphere and low local temperatures. The situation rendered the solar-powered Ingenuity unable to communicate with its base station, the Perseverance rover, which sends the helicopter’s status to Earth via Martian satellite.“The dust diminishes the amount of sunlight hitting the solar array, reducing Ingenuity’s ability to recharge its six lithium-ion batteries,” JPL continued. “When the battery pack’s state of charge dropped below a lower limit, the helicopter’s field-programmable gate array (FPGA) was powered down.”Ingenuity was recently approved to fly through at least September, and has now racked up 28 sorties. That’s considerably beyond its initial flight plan, of five excursions planned after it landed on the Martian surface in February 2021, along with Perseverance. Ingenuity’s rotor revolutions per flight were increased last September to account for lessening atmospheric density due to seasonal changes at the mission’s landing area, Mars’ Jezero Crater.So far the plan has worked well. The rotorcraft has racked up a total of 4.2 miles (6.9 kilometers) of flight distance and is now serving as a scout for Perseverance activities as the mission enters an ancient delta in search of potential signs of Martian life. Recently, the mini-helicopter even snapped valuable photos of Perseverance’s discarded landing system to help spacecraft  engineers plan future missions. But the helicopter is battling dust, seasonal changes and conditions beyond its design plan, all of which mean it will face more obstacles in continuing its flights in the coming months.  … -- source link

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