41
votes
Did the FAA license the Ingenuity helicopter to fly on Mars?
The FAA is not responsible for every US vehicle as that other answer alluded to.
FAA licensing covers pilots, commercial aircraft, aircraft operators, and commercial spacecraft Earth launches and ...
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34
votes
Accepted
Could Ingenuity survive if Perseverance failed?
No. Perseverance is the communications relay for Ingenuity.
Ingenuity uses essentially ZigBee to communicate, the same protocol that possibly your smart bulbs use. ZigBee has a range of about 300m ...
- 18k
25
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Ingenuity (helicopter) deploy immediately right after rover landing?
Why didn't Ingenuity (helicopter) deploy immediately right after rover landing?
For many reasons. Number one is that helicopter is an experimental (i.e., not mission-critical) item. Mission-critical ...
- 73.2k
23
votes
Accepted
How does Ingenuity measure its altitude when flying?
From multiple sites, but for the following quote, ScienceMag.org references a laser altimeter: (emphasis mine)
The data began to trickle in at 6:40 a.m. ET, relayed by the
Perseverance rover to ...
- 1,870
23
votes
Accepted
How did the Ingenuity helicopter clear tests even without being deployed on Mars?
As of today, the debris shield has been dropped. The "tests" discussed in the article are electrical, computer, and sensor tests. Nothing mechanical (other than dropping the shield) has ...
- 47.7k
22
votes
Accepted
Why do Ingenuity's legs differ?
I asked one of the copter's engineers, Matt Keennon, what the hole in that one leg's foot was for. He replied that it's only for stowage.
... because of the odd way the copter is held in place under ...
- 11.5k
22
votes
Accepted
Did the FAA license the Ingenuity helicopter to fly on Mars?
No
According to the FAA itself, licensing is for private individuals and companies, and applies only to the launch and re-entry parts of the flight:
An FAA license is required for any launch or ...
- 47.7k
19
votes
Accepted
How high could Ingenuity fly?
While Ingenuity would theoretically eventually hit a "service ceiling" above which the atmosphere is no longer dense enough to provided a TWR (Thrust-Weight-Ratio) of above 1, I suspect the ...
- 18k
13
votes
How did the Ingenuity helicopter clear tests even without being deployed on Mars?
So How did ingenuity helicopter clear tests even without being deployed on Mars?
The linked article claims that Ingenuity has "cleared multiple system checks". By way of analogy, human ...
- 73.2k
13
votes
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Mars helicopter ingenuity stress testing at end of mission?
In some sense, it already is.
Ingenuity was designed for 5 short test hops during the first 30 days. Pretty much every flight since then was higher, farther, and longer than originally designed and ...
- 18k
10
votes
Accepted
Why wasn't the high-speed rotation regime for Ingenuity tested on Earth?
Ingenuity is a low cost technology demonstrator. As a technology demonstrator, NASA and JPL cut lots of corners to keep the cost low (low by NASA standards, only \$80 million US compared to the \$2.2 ...
- 73.2k
9
votes
Could a helicopter escape Titan?
Good luck getting a helicopter hypersonic. You need more than 2,600 m/s to escape Titan. The speed of sound on Titan is 194 m/s.
- 11.5k
9
votes
Accepted
For how long could the Mars helicopter Ingenuity keep up with the Perseverance rover if it wanted to?
There are two parts to this question. The first is, can it physically keep up? As you mentioned, the range of 300 m per flight is specifically stated. From this page, we can deduce that one 90 second ...
- 121k
9
votes
Does Ingenuity rotate via differential rotor speeds or differential angles of attack?
Hackaday has a well-written article describing nicely the control system for Ingenuity.
Another way in which Ingenuity differs from terrestrial multicopters
is in the flight control systems. Where ...
- 1,870
8
votes
Does Ingenuity rotate via differential rotor speeds or differential angles of attack?
As @fred_dot_u's answer shows from a blog post, the control mechanism is two swashplates.
The manufacturer of the six motors that control the swashplates confirms that:
Six DCX precision micro motors ...
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8
votes
Did the FAA license the Ingenuity helicopter to fly on Mars?
Out of jurisdiction
Per outer space treaty, Mars is not in the jurisdiction of any US Government Agency.
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8
votes
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How fast are Ingenuity's knees wearing out?
Let me open by saying I do not have an answer.
Thanks BrendanLuke15 for linking to the knee detail image!!
While question is more "design/engineering" than "space exploration"... ...
- 3,042
7
votes
Accepted
Why make Ingenuity survive some "brutally cold Martian nights" before its first attempt at flight?
First of all, according to Fig. 2 from Multi-model Meteorological and Aeolian Predictions for Mars 2020 and the Jezero Crater Region the nighttime surface and atmospheric temperatures for Ingenuity ...
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7
votes
Accepted
Are there fluid disconnects that sever just before the Curiosity or Perseverance rovers separate from their cruise stages or landers?
There was a fluid loop that transferred heat from the RTG to cruise stage components, as shown in these diagrams.
Source: Thermal Control of MSL Rover 'Curiousity" Using an Active Fluid Loop
The ...
- 178k
7
votes
Accepted
Why might Ingenuity be able to fly faster when it flies higher?
I think the use of "airspeed" might be just a PR fumble mainly because Ingenuity has no way to measure airspeed.
Ingenuity navigates visually-inertially with the following sensors [1]:
a ...
- 9,685
7
votes
Accepted
What if Perseverance had experienced a fault after dropping Ingenuity?
If that had happened, Ingenuity would have been trapped and unable to operate. It was built and launched as a "technology demonstrator," at very low cost by NASA spaceflight standards, only ...
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7
votes
Could Perseverance survive if Ingenuity failed?
There is absolutely nothing in Ingenuity that is critical for Perseverance. Ingenuity was at several points in time almost scrapped. There are no transmitters or otherwise that are required for ...
- 121k
6
votes
Accepted
Might Ingenuity tip over?
The wind on Mars simply isn't that powerful. For comparison, the blades, which are rather large, are moving at the tips around 0.7 mach. It would take wind speeds on that order to cause it to have any ...
- 121k
6
votes
Accepted
Does the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars have a radio call sign?
After Ingenuity's first flight, the ICAO gave it an official call sign:
Ingenuity’s chief pilot, Håvard Grip, announced that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) – the United Nations’ ...
- 47.7k
6
votes
Can the NASA Ingenuity Copter record video with its camera?
NASA just confirmed in the press conference that the copter can transmit colour video, around 18:44 GMT in this video link (approx 49 minutes from the start)
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