Ingenuity Mission

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is the first aircraft humanity has sent to another planet to attempt powered, controlled flight. If its experimental flight test program succeeds, the data returned could benefit future explorations of the Red Planet – including those by astronauts – by adding the aerial dimension, which is not available today.

While Ingenuity is a technology experiment that is separate from the rover’s science mission, the helicopter launched to Mars on July 30, 2020, attached to the belly of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. They will land together in Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.

Quick Facts

• Weight: About 1.8 kilograms on Earth, and about 0.68 kilograms on Mars
• Height: 0.49 meters
• Rotor system: Four specially made carbon fiber blades arranged into two 1.2-meter-long counter-rotating rotors that spin at roughly 2,400 rpm
• Fuselage (body) dimensions: 13.6 centimeters by 19.5 centimeters by 16.3 centimeters; four carbon composite landing legs, each 0.384 meters long, giving the helicopter about 13 centimeters of clearance above the ground
• Power: Solar array on top of the rotor system charges six lithium-ion batteries
• Two cameras on Ingenuity: One color with a horizon-facing view for terrain images and one black-and-white for navigation.

Helicopter Objectives

The helicopter team has a sequence of objectives for this high-risk, high-reward project. The team has already successfully completed the first major objective: 

To demonstrate powered flight in the thin atmosphere of Mars is possible

• The Martian atmosphere is only about 1% as thick as Earth’s, making it very difficult to generate the lift necessary to fly.
• The team has successfully designed, built, and flight-tested Ingenuity in a Mars-like atmospheric environment in a special chamber on Earth.

After the testing on Earth, the team now aims:

To actually fly the helicopter on Mars

• The flight tests at Mars will inform the team of the actual performance in the true environment of Mars compared to the models assumed for the environment and the flight tests that took place on Earth.
• The Ingenuity team will attempt up to five flight tests during its 30-sol experiment window. Each successful flight will allow the team to consider expanding the test envelope for the next flight. If data suggests the mission did not meet expectations, the team may elect to reproduce the previous flight profile.
• The helicopter will start each flight from a 10-by-10-meter airfield and end back in this airfield.
• The helicopter will fly at altitudes of 13-5 meters in altitude and travel as far as 50 meters downrange and back to the starting area.
• Engineers will fly the helicopter for no more than about 90 seconds on each flight

The helicopter experiment will also inform engineers about:

Use of miniaturized flying technology in space

• To fit within the payload space on the Perseverance rover’s belly while also maintaining the capability to fly in Mars’ thin atmosphere, Ingenuity was designed to be as light and compact as possible (about 1.8 kilograms on Earth).
• Its onboard computers, batteries, sensors, and heaters all fit within a fuselage that is about the size of a tissue box.
• In addition to having to be small and lightweight, the helicopter’s components had to be stress-tested to be sure they could survive the cold temperatures and radiation in deep space and on Mars.

Autonomous operations of an aerial system at another planet or moon

• Like the rover, the helicopter is too far from Earth to be operated with a joystick. So engineers will learn to operate the aerial vehicle from many millions of miles away.
• The helicopter is designed to fly, land, communicate, manage its energy, and keep warm autonomously.
• Innovative mathematical algorithms will allow flight in the thin atmosp

Future Implications

The fundamental mathematical models, simulations, and design approach used for Ingenuity position NASA to consider incorporating small helicopters into mission plans for future robotic and human exploration at Mars.

• Taking to the air would give scientists a new perspective of a region’s geology and allow them to peer into areas too steep or slippery to send a rover.
• Future generations of Mars helicopters could provide a supporting role as robotic scouts, surveying terrain from above.
• These future helicopters could also collect samples or carry an instrument payload for in-situ scientific investigation. In addition, a future Mars helicopter could help carry light but vital payloads from one site to another

Helicopter Deployment Phase

This sequence of activities, which is expected to take 10 sols if all goes well, begins with the deployment of the debris shield and ends with the helicopter on the surface of Mars. Each step is accompanied by communications back to Earth (via the rover and orbiters and NASA’s Deep Space Network) along with periodic transmission of pictures taken by the rover’s cameras, including the WATSON imager that is part of the SHERLOC instrument located on the end of the rover’s robotic arm.

This period will include the rover’s drive to the center of the helipad, the release of the lock on the Mars Helicopter Delivery System and slow rotation of the helicopter down to the surface, deployment of the helicopter’s legs, the charging of the batteries to 100%, and then the gentle drop 6 inches (15 centimeters) to the surface on the last sol. After the drop, Perseverance drives away to expose Ingenuity to the Sun so the helicopter can recharge its batteries.

Milestones

Once Ingenuity is deployed to the surface, it has 30 sols (31 Earth Days) to complete its activities. The first phase is a commissioning process that is expected to take about a week; then the first flight tests begin. 

At the beginning of Ingenuity’s surface operations, the helicopter will aim to hit the following milestones:

• Autonomously keeping warm through the intensely cold Martian nights (as frigid as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 90 degrees Celsius).
• Autonomously charging with its solar panel.
• Confirming the communications link: between the helicopter and its base station; between the base station and the rover’s communication system; and then between the rover and Earth, all the way back to the helicopter flight operators.
• Unlocking its rotor blades, confirming blades can change their angle, or pitch, and then performing both low-speed (50 rpm) and high-speed (2,400 rpm) spin tests while still standing on the surface.

Once Ingenuity is certified for its test flights, it will attempt:

• Lifting off for the first time in the thin Martian atmosphere
• Flying autonomously
• Landing successfully

If all those steps are successful, Ingenuity will attempt up to four additional test flights. 

First Experimental Flight Test on Another World

Mars Flight Test No. 1 is scheduled to launch at about 11 a.m. local time on Mars, when winds in the area are expected to be lightest and the battery will be at an adequate state of charge. In addition to using existing wind models, the teams will also be regularly checking data from the rover’s Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) instrument, which will provide data on the winds in the vicinity.

By the time of liftoff, the helicopter’s flight computer will have autonomously run through a series of preflight checks and run the rotor system to around 2,400 rpm. If everything remains go, the computer will command the rotor blades to change their angle, or pitch, taking a deeper bite into the tenuous Martian atmosphere. The first attempt at powered, controlled flight from Mars will begin a fraction of a second later.

The goals of Flight Test No. 1: lift off, climb, hover, and land. Ingenuity will be tasked with climbing at about 1 meter per second to an altitude of about 3 meters. Then it is expected to hover for about 20 seconds and descend at about 1 meter per second until touchdown.

Flight tests will be divided into three-sol blocks. In addition to flying the helicopter, engineers use the first sol of each block for activities, including finalizing and transmitting the command sequences and acquiring preliminary data after the flight test’s completion. As soon as these first glimpses (including two low resolution images taken in-flight) are downlinked, the Ingenuity team will begin reconstructing the vehicle’s performance and planning the next sortie. The second day’s communication from the helicopter will include all the engineering data acquired during the test. The images taken during the flight (up to four black-and white navigation and three color) will be received on Day 3, providing the helicopter team an even clearer “picture” of what took place in the air millions of miles away. Later that evening, the team will meet to decide whether to begin a new test block the following day and, if so, what kind of flight profile to attempt.

Flight Test No. 2 and Beyond

If the team declares the first test flight a success, the goals of Flight Test No. 2 could be expanded to include climbing to 5 meters and then flying horizontally for a meters, flying horizontally back to descend, and landing within the airfield. Total flight time could be up to 90 seconds. Images from the helicopter’s navigation camera will later be used by project team members on Earth to evaluate the helicopter’s navigation performance. If the second experimental test flight is a success, the goals of Flight Test No. 3 could be expanded to test the helicopter’s ability to fly farther and faster – up to 50 meters from the airfield and then return. Total flight time could be up to 90 seconds. If the project timeline allows for Flight Tests No. 4 and 5, the goals and flight plans will be based on data returned from the first three tests. The flights could further explore Ingenuity’s aerial capabilities, including flying at a time of day where higher winds are expected and traveling farther downrange with more changes in altitude, heading, and airspeed

Because Ingenuity is a technology demonstration, there is no requirement to collect science data and there are no science instruments onboard. Instead, the helicopter carries a combination of custom-made and off-the-shelf components – many from the world of cell phone technology – including two cameras. These components are optimized for flight testing along with relaying engineering data and some imagery back to Earth.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California oversaw the system architecture, design, and development. JPL also built the fuselage and integrated the full vehicle. AeroVironment of Simi Valley, California, built the rotor system, landing gear, and solar panel substrate. SolAero Technologies of Albuquerque, New Mexico, integrated the solar panel.

NASA Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided rotorcraft expertise, computational fluid dynamics analysis, and optimization of the blade design.

Supporting Hardware

To touch down in Jezero Crater and perform successful flight operations there, Ingenuity will rely on the Perseverance rover and other major Mars 2020 spacecraft components.

Perseverance Rover

The size of a small SUV, Perseverance will explore Jezero Crater, collecting and caching the first samples from another planet for future return to Earth. Ingenuity will remain attached to Perseverance’s belly, encapsulated in a protective debris shield, until it is deployed for flight tests. During interplanetary cruise, landing, and early surface operations, Ingenuity will rely on the rover for electrical power and communications. Once Ingenuity is deployed on the surface, the rover will act as a communications relay between the helicopter and Earth, and also will document the flight tests with its onboard cameras.

Designed collaboratively by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, and the Mars 2020 and Mars Helicopter teams at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Mars Helicopter Delivery System attaches Ingenuity to the belly of the rover during the journey to the Red Planet, landing, and early surface operation. A debris shield encapsulates and protects the helicopter and delivery system from rocks that could be kicked up during landing. The debris shield will remain in place until just days before Ingenuity is deployed to the surface. About 60 days after landing, the delivery system will deploy the helicopter, rotating and dropping it 5 inches (13 centimeters) or so (depending on surface variations) onto the Martian surface. After its job is complete (and Ingenuity is deployed), the delivery system will remain attached to the belly of Perseverance for the remainder of the rover’s mission.

The Mars Helicopter Base Station, an electronics box installed in the Perseverance rover, carries the computers that monitor and regulate helicopter systems while it is attached to the rover and the communications gear that – after the helicopter’s deployment to the surface – stores and routes communications between Ingenuity, Perseverance, and Earth.

Both the Perseverance rover and the Mars Helicopter depend upon the mission’s cruise stage, aeroshell, and descent stage to successfully navigate between Earth and Mars, and to safely land on the Red Planet.

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