Ingenuity, a little helicopter, was first seen arriving in February on Mars.NASA has officially rescheduled the 1st flight of the helicopter called Ingenuity Mars to 19th April at around 3:30 AM ET. This is according to the announcement of the agency on Saturday.
Why Is The Ingenuity Flight Getting Delayed Again?
The helicopter weighing a total of 4 pounds which arrived on 18th February on Mars along with Perseverance, the parent rover, has witnessed the delay of its 1st flight several times. Since touching Mars’s surface on 4th April, it has been the subject of several ongoing checkouts and tests. However, it has already survived its 1st night alone gaining independence from the parent rover, Perseverance on the frigid surface of Mars. The flight was originally scheduled for 11th April however NASA said that the rotor test data hinted at an early ending of the test sequence as the computer of Ingenuity switched to the flight mode from the pre-flight mode.
After experiencing a minor glitch in its software, the date got pushed back further. Engineers at the Laboratory of Jet Propulsion of NASA decided to reinstall after modifying the software regarding flight control of Ingenuity which is a process of several days. On Friday night, NASA tweeted that the helicopter had completed one spin test undergoing at full-speed, so a decision regarding its next date of flight is forthcoming.
With the engineers of NASA testing and reinstalling the software regarding the flight, Ingenuity has been on a wait on the frigid surface of the Jezero Crater of Mars. With Ingenuity not being the primary focus of its parent rover’s Mars mission, this little helicopter has the capability of providing a huge leap forward towards Mars’ human exploration and the exploration of other many celestial bodies.
