Vertiflite May/June 2021

Ingenuity sends back a photo of its shadow as it hovered above the surface of Mars.

A close-up of Ingenuity and the above-rotor solar panel.

onboard systems. NASA Ames and Langley brought the expertise in rotorcraft design, control system identification, computational capabilities and operational experience. AeroVironment, an innovator and manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), under contract by JPL, designed Ingenuity’s propulsion system, as well as the composite landing gear. Lockheed Space Systems in Denver designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System (MHDS), which transported and deployed Ingenuity for flight on Mars. “We had to figure out how to hold onto all the moving parts with minimal rover resources, such as actuation signals, available to us,” recalled Jeremy Morrey, Lockheed Martin MHDS principal engineer. “We had a wicked challenge to do more with less.” Switzerland-based Maxon said its DCX and BLDC motors were used for “numerous mission-critical tasks.” Six Maxon DCX motors controlled the pitch angle of the rotor blades for flight direction. Qualcomm, Snapdragon and SolAero provided design assistance and vehicle components. Mission Success As of this writing, NASA had met the primary goal of this mission — to prove that rotorcraft flight on Mars was possible. The team also gathered revealing data to determine the viability of future missions with rotorcraft flight on other planets and moons. While not a specific goal of this Mars mission, some yet-to-be- realized rotorcraft design or technology could come from the data gathered. High-altitude rescue by hovering helicopters could be achieved by what is learned from the Ingenuity’s flight tests, said Ravich. JPL hasn’t determined if or when another Mars rotorcraft mission would occur or whether it will precede or succeed Dragonfly’s mission to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. That flight, which will take eight years to reach Titan, will include the 1,000-lb (450-kg) Dragonfly coaxial quadcopter.

Note: As this article was going to press, Ingenuity completed a second flight on April 22. Lasting 51.9 seconds, Ingenuity climbed to 16 ft (5 m), hovered briefly, then translated sideways 7 ft (2 m). After coming to a stop, it hovered in place and made turns before heading back to the center of the airfield to land. “Because the data and imagery indicate that the Mars Helicopter not only survived the second flight but also flew as anticipated, the Ingenuity team is considering how best to expand the profiles of its next flights to acquire additional aeronautical data from the first successful flight tests on another world,” NASA stated. Whether Ingenuity lays the foundation for future, more ambitious helicopter-included missions to Mars and beyond remains to be seen. But its successful first flight and the data gathered from the Ingenuity mission will likely cement rotorcraft’s role in future planetary missions. fold purpose. The overarching goal is to help answer the basic question that has flummoxed scientists, astronomers and lay people for millennia: How did Earth evolve to become habitable? The second goal: determine how effective rotorcraft can be as a tool for exploring other planets.

Vertiflite will continue to cover this historic mission with future reports on Ingenuity’s flight tests.

About the Author Robert W. Moorman is a freelance writer specializing in various facets of the fixed-wing and rotary-wing air transportation business.With more than 30 years of experience, his writing clients include several of the leading aviation magazines targeting the civil and military markets. He can be reached at rwmassoc325@gmail.com .

May / June 2021

Dragonfly, NASA’s fourth New Frontiers mission, has a two-

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