Ingenuity in trouble
The engineering team yesterday revealed that several days earlier the Mars helicopter failed to communicate with the rover Perseverance as scheduled, now believed to have been caused by “a low-power state.”
Data downlinked indicates that the communications dropout on May 3, Sol 427 of the Perseverance rover’s mission at Mars, was a result of the solar-powered helicopter entering a low-power state, potentially due to the seasonal increase in the amount of dust in the Martian atmosphere and lower temperatures as winter approaches. The dust diminishes the amount of sunlight hitting the solar array, reducing Ingenuity’s ability to recharge its six lithium-ion batteries. When the battery pack’s state of charge dropped below a lower limit, the helicopter’s field-programmable gate array (FPGA) was powered down.
This state then caused the helicopter’s clock to get out of sync with the clock on Perseverance, so that when the rover tried to communicate the helicopter was not listening.
Engineers regained communications on May 5th, but the helicopter remains in trouble. Its batteries are no longer fully charged, which means it doesn’t have enough power to heat Ingenuity through the longer cold nights of winter that presently exist in Jezero crater.
The engineers have established a plan to get the batteries back up to full charge, but it means the heaters will no longer attempt to warm the helicopter as much. The result could be damaged parts not able to withstand those colder temperatures.
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The engineering team yesterday revealed that several days earlier the Mars helicopter failed to communicate with the rover Perseverance as scheduled, now believed to have been caused by “a low-power state.”
Data downlinked indicates that the communications dropout on May 3, Sol 427 of the Perseverance rover’s mission at Mars, was a result of the solar-powered helicopter entering a low-power state, potentially due to the seasonal increase in the amount of dust in the Martian atmosphere and lower temperatures as winter approaches. The dust diminishes the amount of sunlight hitting the solar array, reducing Ingenuity’s ability to recharge its six lithium-ion batteries. When the battery pack’s state of charge dropped below a lower limit, the helicopter’s field-programmable gate array (FPGA) was powered down.
This state then caused the helicopter’s clock to get out of sync with the clock on Perseverance, so that when the rover tried to communicate the helicopter was not listening.
Engineers regained communications on May 5th, but the helicopter remains in trouble. Its batteries are no longer fully charged, which means it doesn’t have enough power to heat Ingenuity through the longer cold nights of winter that presently exist in Jezero crater.
The engineers have established a plan to get the batteries back up to full charge, but it means the heaters will no longer attempt to warm the helicopter as much. The result could be damaged parts not able to withstand those colder temperatures.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
Farewell Ingenuity.
You proved that rotary powered flight is possible on Mars and gave us a great glimpse of how it could be used alone and in conjunction with ground explorations. You showed us that taking a risk could produce very useful outcomes.
Someday our children will salute your brave airframe from the surface of Mars.
A sad bit of news…. Here’s hoping the mission team manage to revive the plucky little thing.
If not, said team can take solace that they knocked it miles out of the park, overachieving anything anyone could have expected from the mission. Great work guys… You have genuinely changed the face of planetary exploration for ever.
Perseverance will be lonely without you… But will surely persevere.
How much more proof do you need that solar powered anything on Mars needs some way of cleaning its solar arrays ? This seems to happen over and over again, with the “fix” being “We hope there will be some wind to blow the dust off” Excuse me, launching billion dollar missions and not providing a method to do so is “penny wise and pound foolish”. We’ve known forever that there are dust storms on Mars and yet no one has gotten off the dime. I know weight is important, but how heavy would a fan ducted to blow on the solar panels be?
Dust on Mars? If only a helicopter had any way of moving air and possibly removing dust.
Additionally, the Opportunity mars rover had its solar panel wipers deleted during design for mass, and it lasted 57x the designed lifespan.
Dust accumulation is not a guaranteed short-term failure on Mars. NASA’s supply of radioisotopes is low and the NIMBY/BANANA groups getting scream-y about launching a rocket with radioactive material — despite what appears to be a 100% worldwide success rate of launching radioisotopes out of our gravity well — solar panels are only a minor backup for probes launched past Mars/Jupiter — New Horizons, for one.
” . . . despite what appears to be a 100% worldwide success rate of launching radioisotopes out of our gravity well . . .”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954
Well, technically it did move successfully out of our gravity well, the problem was when it tried to get back in
Yeah, nuclear power packs are going to continue. Solar is good but insufficient. Pretty sure the PRC is going to be deploying reactors in orbit and onto the moon.
Can’t wait to see more drones on Mars! When is the next mission?