Linux On Mars: NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Flies
The first powered aircraft on Mars <https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/perseverance_computing_feature/> has proved its concept, taken flight for a few seconds, and made a controlled landing again. The control system is running Linux on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chip, not because NASA considered it the best tool for the job, but because it was the easiest solution available. The hardware “is tuned for use on Earth, not Mars”, so it is only planned to make brief flights of no more than 90 seconds at a time, always landing back at the same spot, and it is not expected to endure beyond the initial 30 days of the Perseverance mission.
On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 14:29:28 +1200, I wrote:
The first powered aircraft on Mars <https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/perseverance_computing_feature/> has proved its concept, taken flight for a few seconds, and made a controlled landing again.
And its flying days are not yet over <https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/11/nasas-stalwart-mars-helicopter-is-back-and-better-than-ever/>. It’s coming up to summer on that part of Mars, and the atmospheric density has fallen by a third (from 1.5% of Earth typical to 1.0%). According to the original plan, the craft should have given up operations by now. Yet the scientists have figured out a way to adapt the way it operates to the changed conditions, and it has since made two successful flights, for a total of 15 so far, travelling a total distance exceeding 3km across the Martian surface.
... and still keeps on flying <https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/16/mars_helicopter_mission_extended/>. Ingenuity has had some software upgrades, to increase how high and how accurately it can fly, with potentially more on the way. And it’s getting more responsibilities to act as a forward scout for the Perseverance rover. NASA now plans to keep the Mars copter operational until September.
On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 14:29:28 +1200, I wrote:
The first powered aircraft on Mars... is not expected to endure beyond the initial 30 days of the Perseverance mission.
It endured well beyond that, and has continued to fly until very recently. But it has now had a hiccup <https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/05/after-an-amazing-run-on-mars-nasas-helicopter-faces-a-long-dark-winter/>, seemingly caused by an accumulation of dust on its solar panels limiting its ability to recharge its batteries. The ground controllers were able to recover the situation, but it looks like the days of the days of the plucky little Linux-powered helicopter are numbered. Note how the importance of this little afterthought to the main Mars mission has grown as it has proven its worth: So, the engineering team commanded Perseverance to halt all of its ongoing science activities for a full day to essentially sit there and listen intently for Ingenuity's call. The significance of this decision is that the helicopter was initially viewed as an add-on technology demonstration. Some of the rover's leadership team did not even want the added risk of bringing Ingenuity along. The helicopter was supposed to make five experimental flights in 30 days and then be set aside. Now, the entire Mars mission was being put on hold, nearly 13 months after Ingenuity's first flight, in the hopes of saving the small vehicle. And they did it. For now.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro