“That’s one of the effects of the density being as low as it is,” Grip says. The rotor system’s distinguishing feature is its hulking size compared to the rest of the vehicle. To counteract the wobble and make the flight smoother, the blades, which have a foam core and a carbon fiber coating, are crafted to be lightweight but extremely stiff. Grip, a research technologist also at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, likens the unsteady motion to riding a bicycle with heavy grocery bags hanging from the handle bars. On Mars, in the thin air, it doesn't get stamped out.” “As the blades rotate, they tend to flap up and down a little bit, which interferes with control,” Balaram tells Popular Mechanics. Ingenuity’s 2-foot-long blades are specially designed for the Martian atmosphere, which is 1 percent the density of Earth’s. Popular Mechanics spoke with JPL’s Bob Balaram and Håvard Fjær Grip to learn about the engineering features that make humanity’s first off-world helicopter so innovative. While Ingenuity is a technology demonstration-meaning its only goal, really, is to safely get off the ground-a successful flight could forever change the way we explore our solar system. The helicopter’s most ambitious hops, nearly all of which will be choreographed by Ingenuity itself, could take it as high as a single-story building and far as 1,000 feet. Once separated from the rover, Percy’s otherworldly helo will have just 30 martian solar days (commonly called sols, which are each 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds) to conduct a series of up to five test flights, each lasting anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds. Inside Percy's Mission To Hear the Sounds of Mars.How NASA Prevents Us From Bringing Germs to Space.NASA's Perseverance Rover Has Landed on Mars!.
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