NASA's helicopter has no impact on the Red Planet

NASA's helicopter has no impact on the Red Planet

NASA's helicopter has no impact on the Red Planet

Washington : NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has crashed into the face of the Red Planet ahead of its landmark flight scheduled for April 11.

The intelligence flew to Mars while attached to the abdomen of NASA's Perseverance rover, which led to the February 18 strike on Red Planet.

"#MarsHelicopter touchdown has confirmed it! Its 293 million (471 million km) voyage to @NASAPersevere ended with a final 10-inch drag from the rover's belly to the surface of Mars today," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California , wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

"The next milestone? Survive the night."

The US space agency last week announced a decision to postpone the first attempt to fly a helicopter to Mars from April 8 to April 11.

Flight control on Mars is much harder than flying on Earth.

NASA's helicopter has no impact on the Red Planet

NASA's helicopter has no impact on the Red Planet

The Red Planet has a gravitational pull (about one third of the Earth's surface), but its atmosphere is 1 percent as large as the Earth's surface.

During Martian's daylight, the planet's surface receives only about half the amount of solar energy reaching the earth's surface during the day, and night temperatures can drop to as low as 90 degrees Celsius, freezing and breaking unprotected electrical components.

The balance within the available accommodations provided by the Perseverance rover, a smart helicopter should be minimal.

To fly in Mars, it must be light. To survive the cold Martian winter, it must be strong enough to power indoor heaters.

The system - from the performance of its rotors in air-conditioning to its solar panels, electric heaters, and other devices - has been tested and tested at the NPL's JPL testing rooms and labs in Southern California.

--IANS