3 For Mars

[TheGreenGoblin]

CAVOK, no sig?

Often not, for months, as you well know!

[Pontius Navigator]

TAF?

What is the season where they are now?

[TheGreenGoblin]

TAF?

As good as it gets in terms of forecasts...

https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/

[Boac]

We need the wind! Beware the wind limits on Ingenuity's rotors. How can we plan?

[TheGreenGoblin]

We need the wind! Beware the wind limits on Ingenuity's rotors. How can we plan?

Indeed, you don't want those rotors sailing in the Martian gales... You ask C16, he'll tell you!

The risk to the rotors due to sailing is infinitesimal, as you well know, as a howling Martian gale is the equivalent to a mild breeze on earth. The dust these Martian gales raises, is a problem though!

[TheGreenGoblin]

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity is ready for another epic Red Planet flight.

Ingenuity, which arrived on Mars with NASA's Perseverance rover in February and made history Monday (April 19) with the first-ever powered flight on another world, will attempt its second flight Thursday (April 22) at 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT), MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, wrote in a status update.

"We're looking to go a little bigger this time," Aung wrote in the update. While Monday's flight involved Ingenuity hovering 10 feet (3 meters) above the Red Planet's surface, Thursday's flight will see Ingenuity go a bit higher, to 16 feet (5 m), Aung said. Ingenuity will then tilt slightly and move sideways for 7 feet (2 m), hover in place and turn a few times so that its color camera can snap some images before returning to its Martian airfield for a landing, she added.

https://www.space.com/ingenuity-mars-he ... tification

[PHXPhlyer]

We will need the TAF and METAR for JZRO before any Martian aviation is attempted.

PP

[TheGreenGoblin]

We will need the TAF and METAR for JZRO before any Martian aviation is attempted.

PP

Damned hard to find that data...

[TheGreenGoblin]

Anyway in tribute to an Afrikaner, Jakob Van Zyl who was working on this project and who died unexpectedly at 63.

https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25745/van-zyl-overlook/

Jakob van Zyl (1957-2020)
Former Director for Solar System Exploration
NASA-JPL

Jakob served JPL for 33 distinguished years, culminating in his leadership of the laboratory's Solar System Exploration Directorate through the successful operations of celebrated missions such as Juno, Dawn, Cassini, and the implementation of InSight and MARCO, along with ongoing development of Europa Clipper, Psyche, and all JPL instruments and the Mars Helicopter for Mars 2020.

“Jakob was a dear friend and a devoted teammate to many of us at JPL," said Bobby Braun, JPL's Director for Planetary Science (known as 4X). "He touched millions of lives throughout our world by devoting his career to gaining a better understanding of our changing planet and the exploration of other worlds. Always the innovator, it's hard to imagine our community without his light and smile. I will remember him in everything I do as 4x Director.”

Jakob first achieved world renown for his research in imaging radar polarimetry, which is the science of polarization information contained in radar waves. Subsequently, he managed the implementation and operations of Earth science missions and instruments under JPL’s responsibility, then served as the laboratory's director for astronomy, physics, and space technology, and later as the associate director for project formulation and strategy. In that role, he helped to develop a new vision for the future of JPL.

“We mourn Jakob as a leader and innovator who during his long career had huge impacts in all of our science disciplines, said Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "We also mourn him as a friend, who touched many lives as a mentor and supporter, including in his native Namibia."

Jakob was born in Outjo, Namibia. In an interview with the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) in July, 2020, Jakob said growing up in a remote area of Namibia helped spark his interest in exploring space.

“Because I grew up there in the northern part of Namibia…the only entertainment we had was to look at the night sky, and so I got very interested in all things related to the universe, and stars, and things like that. So, when I finally got the opportunity to come study at Caltech, which manages JPL – that was of course a dream come true.”

Jakob got his degree in electronics engineering from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 1979. He enrolled at Caltech in 1982 and received his master's degree and doctorate in electrical engineering in 1983 and 1986, respectively. He joined JPL in 1986 and made pioneering contributions to the design and development of many synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems, including SIR-C, SRTM, AIRSAR, TOPSAR, and GeoSAR.

Jakob held many management roles at JPL including Director for Astronomy and Physics (2006-2011), Associate Director of Project Formulation and Strategy (2011-2015) and Director of Solar System Exploration (2016- 2019).

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/418 ... 1957-2020/

[Boac]

We will need the TAF and METAR for JZRO before any Martian aviation is attempted.

Not necessary. MAA rules state that if you remain in sight of the landing zone and do not exceed an 'airspeed' of 10kts. you may operate without weather information.

[TheGreenGoblin]

No live stream detail...

https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helico ... nd-flight/

[PHXPhlyer]

NASA's Mars helicopter soars higher, longer on 2nd flight
“Go big or go home!” official at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/n ... t-n1264944

NASA's Mars helicopter soars higher, longer on 2nd flight
“Go big or go home!” official at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted.

April 22, 2021, 9:20 AM MST / Source: Associated Press
By The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s little Mars helicopter aced its second test flight Thursday, soaring even higher and longer than before.

The 4-pound chopper, named Ingenuity, hovered longer and also flew side to side this time, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It achieved the intended altitude of 16 feet and even accelerated sideways 7 feet.

This hop lasted 52 seconds, 13 seconds longer than the first one.

“Go big or go home!” JPL tweeted in announcing the Earth Day news.

The success came just three days after Ingenuity made the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet. The helicopter carried a bit of wing fabric from the Wright Flyer that made similar history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903.

Flight controllers had to wait four hours before learning Thursday’s outcome. Like it did during Monday’s 10-foot-high hop, the helicopter sent back a black and white photo showing its shadow against the dusty, rock-strewn surface now known as Wright Brothers Field.

“It sounds simple, but there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars,” Ingenuity’s chief pilot, Havard Grip, said from JPL in a statement. “That’s why we’re here — to make these unknowns known.”

One of the challenges is the planet’s extremely thin atmosphere — 1 percent that of Earth’s.

NASA plans up to three more test flights in the next 1 1/2 weeks, venturing higher each time with more complicated acrobatics. Ingenuity hitched a ride to Mars on the rover Perseverance, which photographed the proceedings from more than 200 feet (64 meters) away. The rover team allotted one month for the $85 million tech demo; The clock started ticking when Ingenuity was released from Perseverance’s belly on April 3.

“We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity,” chief engineer Bob Balaram said in a statement.

Perseverance and Ingenuity arrived at Mars in mid-February, landing in an ancient river delta following a 6 1/2-month flight.

Once Ingenuity’s flights are complete, Perseverance will set off on its journey to find any signs of past microscopic life. A robotic geologist, the rover will collect core samples of the most enticing rocks and set them aside for pickup by a future spacecraft a decade from now.

In another first, an experiment on the rover successfully converted Mars’ carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere into pure oxygen this week. Five grams of oxygen was produced, according to NASA, the equivalent of 10 minutes of breathing for an astronaut. Large-scale production at Mars could yield oxygen not only for air, but also rocket fuel. More tests are planned over the next two years.

PP

[Boac]

In another first, an experiment on the rover successfully converted Mars’ carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere into pure oxygen this week. Five grams of oxygen was produced, according to NASA, the equivalent of 10 minutes of breathing for an astronaut. Large-scale production at Mars could yield oxygen not only for air, but also rocket fuel. More tests are planned over the next two years.[/quote]

That is probably more significant than anything else.

[Boac]

Only one 'still' so far of the second flight but NASA says:

For this second flight test at “Wright Brothers Field,” Ingenuity took off again at 5:33 a.m. EDT (2:33 a.m. PDT), or 12:33 p.m. local Mars time. But where Flight One topped out at 10 feet (3 meters) above the surface, Ingenuity climbed to 16 feet (5 meters) this time. After the helicopter hovered briefly, its flight control system performed a slight (5-degree) tilt, allowing some of the thrust from the counter-rotating rotors to accelerate the craft sideways for 7 feet (2 meters).

“The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions,” said Håvard Grip, Ingenuity’s chief pilot at JPL. “Then it headed back to the center of the airfield to land.

[Boac]

Here you go for FR24 users:

ICAO has told NASA and the US FAA that it has given Ingenuity and Wright Brothers Field, where it operates from, official designations. The first flight has been given Ingenuity the IGY three-letter designator and the call sign INGENUITY. In addition, Wright Brothers Field is designated as JZRO for Jezero Crater. These have been assigned by the ICAO’s Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services to NASA.

[llondel]

In a hundred years they'll have helicopters on Mars longer than the length of that first flight.

[Boac]

Time to wind-up the TGG excitement spring. Third flight tomorrow, much more explorative and first results due just after 14Z.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Time to wind-up the TGG excitement spring. Third flight tomorrow, much more explorative and first results due just after 14Z.

Spring wound up accordingly!

[Boac]

From Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... irst-time/

[TheGreenGoblin]

From Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... irst-time/

Acronym crafted to match the meaning I guess!

Moxie - pep, courage, determination, what it takes.

Of course the CO2 inhaling denizens of the planet Braatburble 2 in the Orion cluster would suck all that gas up for breakfast and have no need of any poxy MOXIE!

Seriously though an interesting article and achievement which far outstrips the drone etc. in terms of Mars significance. The amount of heat energy required to generate 5.4 grams of O2 does beg the question as to where all the energy to generate useful amounts of oxygen will come from?

The MOXIE team warmed the instrument up for two hours yesterday, then had it crank out oxygen for an hour. MOXIE produced 5.4 grams of oxygen during that span, about enough to keep an astronaut breathing easily for 10 minutes, NASA officials said.