Tag: Mars Helicopter

NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Comes Back Online on Mars After Communications Glitch

SPACE reports that Ingenuity has officially “regained communication with ground control.” According to a January 20 NASA post, Perseverance “had conducted long-duration listening sessions to help pinpoint Ingenuity’s signal.” Everything “seemed fine during the probe’s 72nd hop on Mars’ red surface, as it successfully climbed to an expected maximum altitude of 40 feet (12 meters) and communicated its ascension status with Perseverance.” But, during descent, NASA said that “communications between the helicopter and rover terminated early, prior to touchdown.”
Full Story (SPACE)

NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Achieves Longest Flight in 18 Months

SPACE reports that NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter “conducted its 63rd Mars flight on Thursday (Oct. 19), covering 1,901 feet (579 meters) of ground in the process.” That was “its longest distance since Flight 25,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said. Ingenuity “flew for 2,310 feet (704 m) on Flight 25, which occurred on April 8, 2022.” This latest sortie “lasted 143 seconds, according to the mission’s flight log.” Ingenuity “got a maximum of 39 feet (12 m) above the ground and reached a top speed of about 14.1 mph (22.7 kph).”
Full Story (SPACE)

Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Makes 48th Error-Free Flight

SPACE reports that the Ingenuity helicopter “buzzed over the Martian landscape at a maximum altitude of around 39 feet (12 meters), observing potential science targets that could be studied by its robotic partner, NASA’s life-hunting Perseverance rover.” The rotorcraft “traveled at a top speed of 10.4 mph (16.7 kph) during Tuesday’s flight, which covered a horizontal distance of around 1,300 feet (400 meters) and lasted nearly 150 seconds, according to the mission’s flight log.” The helicopter became the first machine to fly in the skies of another planet in 2021, and this marked the 48th flight since then.
Full Story (SPACE)

NASA Reestablishes Contact With Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

Spaceflight Now reports, “NASA engineers are prepping the miniature Mars helicopter Ingenuity for its 53rd flight across the surface of the Red Planet after re-establishing contact following a two-month radio blackout.” The disruption “was due to a Martian hill blocking line-of-sight communications with the Perseverance rover – which acts as a conduit between the helicopter and ground controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

Wayne Johnson to Receive the 2023 Daniel Guggenheim Medal for Landmark Contributions to Vertical Flight Aeronautics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 27, 2023 – Reston, Va. – Wayne Johnson has been awarded the 2023 Daniel Guggenheim Medal for his landmark contributions to vertical flight aeronautics and resulting computational codes enabling the design of the first tiltrotor aircraft, eVTOL aircraft, and the Mars Helicopter.

The Daniel Guggenheim Medal was established in 1929 to honor innovators who make notable achievements in the advancement of aeronautics. Its first recipient was Orville Wright. The medal is jointly sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), SAE International (originally the Society of Automotive Engineers), and the Vertical Flight Society (VFS, originally the American Helicopter Society).

Johnson will receive this prestigious award during the Vertical Flight Society’s 79th Annual Forum, 16–18 May, West Palm Beach, Florida.

“I have worked closely with Dr. Johnson for forty-five years. He richly deserves this prestigious recognition for his exceptional career in rotorcraft technology development. His contributions span analysis, design, testing, flight, and academic endeavors for every class of vertical lift rotorcraft – from helicopters and tiltrotors to emerging technology aircraft, from civilian to military mission capable rotorcraft, from personal air taxis to flying on Mars,” said William Warmbrodt, NASA Ames Research Center and Dr. Johnson’s nominator. “His energy, knowledge, and willingness to work with many different people and organizations around the world has benefited not just the international rotorcraft technical community but has also had significant positive impact on those who have had the pleasure and privilege to work with Dr. Johnson and learn from him, including me.”

Johnson obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautical engineering in 1968, and Ph.D. in 1970 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He worked at the U.S. Army Aeromechanics Laboratory from 1970 to 1981, assigned to the 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel branch of Ames Research Center. He was with NASA from 1981 to 1986, including a couple of years as Assistant Branch Chief. In 1986, Johnson founded Johnson Aeronautics, and from 1986 to 1998 developed rotorcraft software. Since 1998 he has worked at the Aeromechanics Branch of NASA Ames Research Center.

Johnson is author of the comprehensive analysis CAMRADII and the rotorcraft design code NDARC; and the books Helicopter Theory (Princeton University Press, 1980; Dover Publications, 1994) and Rotorcraft Aeromechanics (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

He is a Fellow of AIAA and VFS, and an Ames Fellow, and has received the U.S. Army Commander’s Award for Civilian Service, NASA Medals for Exceptional Engineering Achievement and Exceptional Technology Achievement, the VFS Grover E. Bell Award, the Ames H. Julian Allen Award, the 1986 AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award, the 2010 VFS Alexander Nikolsky Honorary Lectureship, and the 2014 VFS Alexander Klemin Award.

Past recipients of the Guggenheim Medal are some of the greatest names in aerospace, including Holt Ashley, Lawrence Bell, William Boeing, James Doolittle, Donald Douglas, Charles Stark Draper, Hugh Dryden, Robert Goddard, Jerome Hunsaker, Theodore von Kármán, Charles Lindbergh, Glenn Martin, Frank Robinson, Burt Rutan, Igor Sikorsky, and Walter Vincenti among many others.

For more information about the AIAA/ASME/SAE/VFS Daniel Guggenheim Medal, contact Patricia A. Carr, Guggenheim Secretary, at [email protected].

AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

About ASME
ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world. For more information visit www.asme.org.

About SAE International
SAE International is a global association committed to being the ultimate knowledge source for the engineering profession. By uniting over 127,000 engineers and technical experts, we drive knowledge and expertise across a broad spectrum of industries. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. We strive for a better world through the work of our philanthropic SAE Foundation, including programs like A World in Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series™. For more information visit www.sae.org.

About The Vertical Flight Society 
Founded as the American Helicopter Society in 1943, the Vertical Flight Society today advocates, promotes and supports global vertical flight technology and professional development. For 80 years, the Society has provided leadership for the advancement of vertical flight. For more information, visit www.vtol.org or follow us on Twitter at @VTOLsociety.

AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270.

NASA Refining Designs of Mars Helicopters

SPACE reports that NASA is drawing on experience from the Ingenuity Mars helicopter’s nearly 50 flights in designing the two Mars Sample Recovery Helicopters for the Mars Sample Return campaign. At the American Astronautical Society Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Chief Engineer of Autonomy and Aerial Flight Håvard Fjær Grip “outlined plans for how Ingenuity’s guidance, navigation, and control system would be adapted and extended.” In an interview afterwards, he said, “What’s fairly clear is that the fundamental rotorcraft configuration and how we control it has been worked out and is heritage that can be relied upon.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Breaks Speed, Altitude Records

CBS News reports on Sunday, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter based on Mars flew 14.5 miles per hours at an altitude of 52.5 feet, both of which are records that broke the previous highs of 13.4 miles per hour and 46 feet of altitude, respectively. Ingenuity was brought “to Mars by NASA’s Perseverance rover,” and in the past two years, the helicopter “has performed a series of tests and is currently conducting an operations demonstration phase that NASA says ‘looks to explore how future rovers and aerial explorers can work together.’”
Full Story (CBS News)

NASA to Launch Two More Mini-Helicopters to Mars to Help Return Samples

The AP reports that NASA “is launching two more mini helicopters to Mars in its effort to return Martian rocks and soil samples to Earth.” Under the plan, “NASA’s Perseverance rover will do double duty and transport the cache to the rocket that will launch them off the red planet a decade from now.” The rover “already has gathered 11 samples with more rock drilling planned.” The most recent sample “holds the greatest promise of containing possible evidence of ancient Martian life, said Arizona State University’s Meenakshi Wadhwa, chief scientist for the retrieval effort.” The planned mini helicopters “will be modeled after NASA’s successful Ingenuity, which has made 29 flights since arriving with Perseverance at Mars early last year.”
Full Story (Associated Press)

NASA Delays First Flight of Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to No Earlier Than April 11

SPACE reports that NASA has pushed the earliest date for its Ingenuity helicopter to make its first flight on Mars from April 8 to April 11. NASA’s JPL said in a tweet that Ingenuity “is preparing to do something that’s never been done: controlled, powered flight on another planet. Takeoff is now slated for no earlier than April 11, with data arriving on Earth on April 12.” The helicopter, “located underneath the rover, has been unfurling from Perseverance’s belly, preparing for the” flight. On March 21, the Perseverance rover “dropped a protective shield, which helped the helicopter to endure the perilous descent through Mars’ atmosphere.”
Full Story (SPACE)

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Begins Deployment Phase

Spaceflight Now reports that NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter “is being lowered from the belly of the Perseverance rover this week as ground teams run through a choreographed long-distance command sequence to safely release the $80 million rotorcraft onto the surface of Mars.” The deployment “is projected to take around six days, assuming everything goes as planned. The first command uplinked from engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory was to release a launch lock that kept the Ingenuity helicopter firmly attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover during the journey to Mars.” The deployment “sequence continued Tuesday to extend the helicopter’s other two landing legs. At that point, the helicopter remained attached to the rover by a single bolt and a couple of tiny electrical connectors, according to NASA.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to Fly No Earlier than April 8

The Hill reports that the NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will take its first flight no earlier than April 8. The helicopter has a small amount of material from the wings of the Wright brothers’ first airplane, NASA said in a statement Tuesday. The swatch of fabric is wrapped with tape around a cable located underneath the helicopter’s solar panel.
Full Story (The Hill)

Ingenuity Makes Second Flight on Mars

The New York Times reports that at 5:33 a.m. EDT Thursday, Ingenuity lifted off from the Jezero crater on Mars for its second flight on the Red Planet. The helicopter “reached a height of 16 feet, tilted itself by 5 degrees to move seven feet sideways, hovered and turned to point its color camera in multiple directions, then returned to its starting point to land. This flight lasted 59.1 seconds.”
Full Story (New York Times)

Ingenuity Conducts Third Flight on Mars

The New York Times reports that on Sunday, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flew on Mars for the third time, traveling further and faster than the previous two flights. The helicopter “perfectly executed its instructions from Earth.” The helicopter “lifted 16 feet off the ground, then flew a round-trip distance of 328 feet before landing back where it started.” The distance “was about 25 times as far as the second flight flew three days ago. The helicopter reached a top speed of 4.5 miles per hour, and the flight lasted about one minute and 20 seconds.”
Full Story (New York Times)

Ingenuity Unlocks Rotor Blades Ahead of First Flight on Mars

SPACE reports that the NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity “has unlocked its two rotor blades as preparations continue for the vehicle’s first flight, due to occur no earlier than Sunday (April 11).” NASA’s JPL said in a tweet Thursday, “The blades of glory, aka rotor blades of the #MarsHelicopter, have been unlocked and are ready for testing. … Next, we’ll do a slow-speed spin-up of the blades for the first time on the Martian surface.” NASA officials “have said they will test the blades first at 50 and then at 2,400 revolutions per minute before the helicopter attempts to fly.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Ingenuity Makes 29th Flight

CNET News reports that NASA JPL confirmed the Ingenuity helicopter’s 29th flight in a tweet Tuesday, “saying the chopper completed the 66.6-second journey over the weekend, traveling 587 feet (179 meters) across Mars. Ingenuity’s previous flight, No. 28, took place at the end of April.”
Aviation Today (CNET News)

Ingenuity Makes 30th Flight

CNET News reports that NASA “announced Monday that Ingenuity successfully pulled off its 30th flight.” NASA JPL tweeted, “After a two-month hiatus, the rotorcraft did a short hop over the weekend so the team can check its vitals and knock some dust off the solar panel.”
Full Story (CNET News)

Ingenuity Helicopter Experiences Insufficient Battery Charge as Martian Winter Begins

CNN reports that for the first time, “the Ingenuity team on Earth lost contact with Ingenuity on sols 427 and 428, or Martian days that correspond with May 3 and May 4.” The team “discovered that loss of contact occurred because Ingenuity experienced insufficient battery charge as night fell. This reduced voltage reset the mission clock, causing the helicopter’s system to be out of sync with its companion, the Perseverance rover.”
Full Story (CNN)

Ingenuity Makes 22nd Mars Flight

SPACE reports that NASA’s Ingenuity has made its 22nd Mars flight. Ingenuity “stayed aloft for 101.4 seconds and reached a maximum altitude of 33 feet (10 meters) during the sortie, which took place on Sunday.”
Full Story (SPACE)