NASA Perseverance Mars Rover Lands Today!

[Gomez Adams]

It has to be cool setting a record every time you do something. At the same time it has to be simply gut wrenching waiting a half hour to find out if disaster has struck.

 

[Zeedox]

Listen to the Incredible Sound of NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Flying on Mars

A microphone on NASA’s Perseverance rover has managed to capture the sounds made by Ingenuity during the helicopter’s fourth flight on Mars. It's the first time that a machine on another planet has captured the sounds made by another vehicle.

gizmodo.com

 

[Grimhogun]

But is that real? I'm just wondering if that's how it really sounds or is that NASA trying to manipulate it to make it sound like it would on earth.

 

[Zeedox]

I think it's real. They admit to enhancing certain frequencies for hearing but that is not uncommon in the world of audio intelligence.

According to NASA, the “scientists made the audio, which is recorded in mono, easier to hear by isolating the 84 hertz helicopter blade sound, reducing the frequencies below 80 hertz and above 90 hertz, and increasing the volume of the remaining signal. Some frequencies were clipped to bring out the helicopter’s hum, which is loudest when the helicopter passes through the field of view of the camera.”

 

[Gomez Adams]

I would think they'd have to. The atmosphere is so extremely thin sound simply doesn't carry the way it does here.

Frankly, I'm amazed they captured anything at all.

 

[Zeedox]

Frankly, I'm amazed they captured anything at all.

Technology in the 70's existed to do this but was used for other listening requirements.

 

[Grimhogun]

It's still really fucking cool!

 

[Zeedox]

NASA’s Helicopter Totally Flipped Out During Its Sixth Flight on Mars

NASA's Ingenuity experienced an “in-flight anomaly” during its sixth flight on Mars, causing it to fly erratically. The helicopter managed to land safely, but the incident served as an unexpected stress test of the system.

gizmodo.com

The test flight began well, but things started to go seriously squirrely at the tail end of Ingenuity’s first stretch. The helicopter suddenly seemed uncertain, adjusting its velocity and “tilting back and forth in an oscillating pattern,” as Håvard Grip, the chief pilot of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, explained in an article prepared for NASA. This odd behavior continued throughout the flight. Before landing, “onboard sensors indicated the rotorcraft encountered roll and pitch excursions of more than 20 degrees, large control inputs, and spikes in power consumption,” added Grip.

 

[Gomez Adams]

Close call. I hope it's not a hardware problem.

 

[Zeedox]

Close call. I hope it's not a hardware problem.

A missing photo for expected ground comparison routine screwed the time-line. I'm amazed each frame wasn't timestamped but they may have had programming/data limitations.

However, the next flyer will have a more robust time-framing system I bet.

 

[Gomez Adams]

On regular copters that oscillation happens typically because of failure in the u-joints of one or more blades. It prevents the blade from tilting and locks it in one position.

Then of course being locked in one position it's going to pull at whatever angle it's locked into while the other blades pull whatever direction the pilot has set the rotors.

Typically it ends in disaster unless you have a really good pilot at the controls.

 

[Zeedox]

From what I read the hardware seems to have survived the un-expected software test. Usually it doesn't.