Ingenuity first test flight scheduled for 3:30 am (Eastern) tonight!
The engineering team for the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars have decided to attempt the first test flight tonight, scheduled for 3:30 am (Eastern) in the early morning hours tomorrow.
Data from the first flight will return to Earth a few hours [later] following the autonomous flight. A livestream will begin at 6:15 a.m. EDT (3:15 a.m. PDT) as the helicopter team prepares to receive the data downlink in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
NASA propaganda will begin on NASA TV at 3:30 am (Eastern), but the actual live stream of the flight will not air until about 6:30 am (Eastern) on April 19th.
At the first link above the engineers explain their decision to proceed immediately.
Over the last week, we’ve been testing the two solutions to address the “watchdog” timer issue that prevented the helicopter from transitioning to “flight mode” and performing a high-speed spin test of the rotors on April 9. These solutions, which have each been verified for use in flight are: 1) adjusting the command sequence from Earth to slightly alter the timing of this transition, and 2) modifying and reinstalling the existing flight control software, which has been stable and healthy for close to two years. The first solution requires adding a few commands to the flight operations sequence and has been tested on both Earth and Mars. From testing this technique on Ingenuity over the last few days, we know this approach is likely to allow us to transition to flight mode and prepare for lift-off about 85% of the time. This solution leaves the helicopter safe if the transition to flight mode is not completed. On Friday, we employed this solution to perform our first-ever high-speed spin test on Mars.
This solution is the least disruptive to a helicopter that, up until we identified the watchdog issue, has been behaving just as we expected. It is the most straightforward, since we do not have to change its configuration.
We also know that if the first attempt does not work on Monday, we can try these commands again, with good probability that subsequent tries in the days following would work even if the first doesn’t. For these reasons, we’ve chosen to pursue this path.
If this least disruptive solution does not work they will then proceed with modifying and uploading new flight control software.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
The engineering team for the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars have decided to attempt the first test flight tonight, scheduled for 3:30 am (Eastern) in the early morning hours tomorrow.
Data from the first flight will return to Earth a few hours [later] following the autonomous flight. A livestream will begin at 6:15 a.m. EDT (3:15 a.m. PDT) as the helicopter team prepares to receive the data downlink in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
NASA propaganda will begin on NASA TV at 3:30 am (Eastern), but the actual live stream of the flight will not air until about 6:30 am (Eastern) on April 19th.
At the first link above the engineers explain their decision to proceed immediately.
Over the last week, we’ve been testing the two solutions to address the “watchdog” timer issue that prevented the helicopter from transitioning to “flight mode” and performing a high-speed spin test of the rotors on April 9. These solutions, which have each been verified for use in flight are: 1) adjusting the command sequence from Earth to slightly alter the timing of this transition, and 2) modifying and reinstalling the existing flight control software, which has been stable and healthy for close to two years. The first solution requires adding a few commands to the flight operations sequence and has been tested on both Earth and Mars. From testing this technique on Ingenuity over the last few days, we know this approach is likely to allow us to transition to flight mode and prepare for lift-off about 85% of the time. This solution leaves the helicopter safe if the transition to flight mode is not completed. On Friday, we employed this solution to perform our first-ever high-speed spin test on Mars.
This solution is the least disruptive to a helicopter that, up until we identified the watchdog issue, has been behaving just as we expected. It is the most straightforward, since we do not have to change its configuration.
We also know that if the first attempt does not work on Monday, we can try these commands again, with good probability that subsequent tries in the days following would work even if the first doesn’t. For these reasons, we’ve chosen to pursue this path.
If this least disruptive solution does not work they will then proceed with modifying and uploading new flight control software.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
a repeat from me, but fairly relevant….
(starts out sorta slow, but gets into great factoids around the 5-6 minute mark)
“How Does NASA Get Video From Mars? How fast is the Martian bandwidth?”
Lon.Tv February 2021
https://youtu.be/pXJ7sdAB-Wg
21:57
Data coming in 6:39am EDT. “Look nominal”
Unpacking data.
Telemetry from helicopter shows successful flight!
First photo shows shadow on surface.
Rover shows images of flight.
Congrats to team for successful first flight on another planet!
A postflight briefing will be held at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT).
Pressure at ground surface on mars equal to 100,000 feet on Earth. Highest helicopter flight on Earth approximately 43,000 feet. So the team has made a drone (I call it a drone since it has no crew) capable of beating the record twice over on our planet
I’m watching the replay right now– somebody has to play the part of Debbie Downer, so I volunteer.
-why are these people wearing ‘masks’? Hasn’t everyone there been vaccinated?
If not, why not? If so, why are they still wearing ‘masks’?
–the video is pretty [expletive], are we going to get better quality video later on?
–jeez, had to turn my sound up to the 100 level, just to be able to hear them.
Wayne/Debbie 8^)
I can’t watch the muzzled mumblers. I have the video feed in a background window and listen. Only brought up when cheering started to see the pics.
Don’t think there will be much better video. Think I read best was going to be ~5FPS. But it beats wishin’…
NASA Press Release
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-succeeds-in-historic-first-flight
Launch site now officially named “Wright Brothers Field”.
Jeff–
“Muzzled Mumblers,” = good one.
5 frames per second, ouch!
Can’t readily find a link on the resolution and frame-rate for the various camera’s. IIRC some of the landing was at 60 fps.
(I fully appreciate one doesn’t want to clog up the real-time transmission of data, with video. I’m just hoping the file exists and it eventually gets beamed back. )
Wayne – heard in the presser a tidbit about the video being “around 6.7 FPS” Also, there was much more data to be downloaded, but not sure how many more images might be waiting in the pipeline.
On the Unmanned Spaceflight site there is a wealth of information and discussion with experts in many fields. Mike Caplinger, who built the MastcamZ camera, provided this link to some of its details:
https://mastcamz.asu.edu/cameras/tech-specs/
Jeff-
Thanks for the link.
I appreciate the scientists don’t necessarily need eye-popping video, but from a purely PR aspect I would put forth the proposition: people (ordinary tax-payers) like NICE pictures & video.
(Not trying to detract from the significance of this achievement, I just want to be able to see it (and hear it, without mumbling through non-woven ‘masks’ made in china.) )