{"id":12688,"date":"2024-12-11T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T16:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasa-performs-first-aircraft-accident-investigation-on-another-world\/"},"modified":"2024-12-11T12:00:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T16:00:41","slug":"nasa-performs-first-aircraft-accident-investigation-on-another-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/nasa-performs-first-aircraft-accident-investigation-on-another-world\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Performs First Aircraft Accident Investigation on Another World"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA Performs First Aircraft Accident Investigation on Another World<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

5 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\"NASA\u2019s<\/a><\/figure>
\n
NASA\u2019s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, right, stands near the apex of a sand ripple in an image taken by Perseverance on Feb. 24, 2024, about five weeks after the rotorcraft\u2019s final flight. Part of one of Ingenuity\u2019s rotor blades lies on the surface about 49 feet (15 meters) west of helicopter (at left in image).<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/LANL\/CNES\/CNRS<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The review takes a close look the final flight of the agency\u2019s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which was the first aircraft to fly on another world.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Engineers from NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and AeroVironment are completing a detailed assessment of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter\u2019s final flight on Jan. 18, 2024, which will be published in the next few weeks as a NASA technical report. Designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, Ingenuity was the first aircraft on another world. It operated for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 30 times farther than planned while accumulating over two hours of flight time.<\/p>\n

The investigation concludes that the inability of Ingenuity\u2019s navigation system to provide accurate data during the flight likely caused a chain of events that ended the mission. The report\u2019s findings are expected to benefit future Mars helicopters, as well as other aircraft destined to operate on other worlds.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
\n\t\t\t\t\tsupports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p><\/video><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
NASA\u2019s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter used its black-and-white navigation camera to capture this video on Feb. 11, 2024, showing the shadow of its rotor blades. The imagery confirmed damage had occurred during Flight 72. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Final Ascent<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Flight 72<\/a> was planned as a brief vertical hop to assess Ingenuity\u2019s flight systems and photograph the area. Data from the flight shows Ingenuity climbing to 40 feet (12 meters), hovering, and capturing images. It initiated its descent at 19 seconds, and by 32 seconds the helicopter was back on the surface and had halted communications.<\/a> The following day, the mission reestablished communications, and images<\/a> that came down six days after the flight revealed Ingenuity had sustained severe damage to its rotor blades.<\/p>\n

What Happened<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWhen running an accident investigation from 100 million miles away, you don\u2019t have any black boxes or eyewitnesses,\u201d said Ingenuity\u2019s first pilot, H\u00e5vard Grip of JPL. \u201cWhile multiple scenarios are viable with the available data, we have one we believe is most likely: Lack of surface texture gave the navigation system too little information to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The helicopter\u2019s vision navigation system was designed to track visual features on the surface using a downward-looking camera<\/a> over well-textured (pebbly) but flat terrain. This limited tracking capability was more than sufficient for carrying out Ingenuity\u2019s first five flights, but by Flight 72 the helicopter was in a region of Jezero Crater filled with steep, relatively featureless sand ripples.<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>
This short animation depicts a NASA concept for a proposed follow-on to the agency\u2019s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter called Mars Chopper, which remains in early conceptual and design stages. In addition to scouting, such a helicopter could carry science instruments to study terrain rovers can\u2019t reach.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the navigation system\u2019s main requirements was to provide velocity estimates that would enable the helicopter to land within a small envelope of vertical and horizontal velocities. Data sent down during Flight 72 shows that, around 20 seconds after takeoff, the navigation system couldn\u2019t find enough surface features to track.<\/p>\n

Photographs taken after the flight indicate the navigation errors created high horizontal velocities at touchdown. In the most likely scenario, the hard impact on the sand ripple\u2019s slope caused Ingenuity to pitch and roll. The rapid attitude change resulted in loads on the fast-rotating rotor blades beyond their design limits, snapping all four of them off at their weakest point \u2014 about a third of the way from the tip. The damaged blades caused excessive vibration in the rotor system<\/a>, ripping the remainder of one blade from its root and generating an excessive power demand that resulted in loss of communications.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"This<\/a><\/figure>
\n
This graphic depicts the most likely scenario for the hard landing of NASA\u2019s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 72nd and final flight on Jan. 18, 2024. High horizontal velocities at touchdown resulted in a hard impact on a sand ripple, which caused Ingenuity to pitch and roll, damaging its rotor blades. <\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Down but Not Out<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Although Flight 72 permanently grounded Ingenuity<\/a>, the helicopter still beams weather and avionics test data to the Perseverance rover about once a week. The weather information could benefit future explorers of the Red Planet. The avionics data is already proving useful to engineers working on future designs of aircraft and other vehicles for the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Ingenuity was designed to be affordable while demanding huge amounts of computer power, we became the first mission to fly commercial off-the-shelf cellphone processors in deep space,\u201d said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity\u2019s project manager. \u201cWe\u2019re now approaching four years of continuous operations, suggesting that not everything needs to be bigger, heavier, and radiation-hardened to work in the harsh Martian environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by Ingenuity\u2019s longevity, NASA engineers have been testing smaller, lighter avionics that could be used in vehicle designs for the Mars Sample Return campaign. The data is also helping engineers as they research what a future Mars helicopter could look like \u2014 and do.<\/p>\n

During a Wednesday, Dec. 11, briefing at the American Geophysical Union\u2019s annual meeting in Washington, Tzanetos shared details on the Mars Chopper rotorcraft, a concept that he and other Ingenuity alumni are researching. As designed, Chopper is approximately 20 times heavier than Ingenuity, could fly several pounds of science equipment, and autonomously explore remote Martian locations while traveling up to 2 miles (3 kilometers) in a day. (Ingenuity\u2019s longest flight<\/a> was 2,310 feet, or 704 meters.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIngenuity has given us the confidence and data to envision the future of flight at Mars,\u201d said Tzanetos.<\/p>\n

More About Ingenuity<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate. NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley and NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity\u2019s development. AeroVironment, Qualcomm, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. Lockheed Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System<\/a>. At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program executive for the Ingenuity Mars helicopter.<\/p>\n

For more information about Ingenuity:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/technology\/helicopter<\/a><\/p>\n

News Media Contacts<\/strong><\/h3>\n

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Karen Fox \/ Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

2024-171<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Share<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n