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NASA Nails Mars Landing

Started by Ecurb Noselrub, February 18, 2021, 10:13:54 PM

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Ecurb Noselrub


Ecurb Noselrub


Ecurb Noselrub

Imagine shooting at something and the bullet travels 300,000,000 miles, and you hit the bullseye.

Dark Lightning

Bullets would just need to be as smart as that spacecraft. Simples.

Tank

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Randy

I didn't even realize it until today that the landing happened. I don't know how I missed it. I had been reading an article about it today and all the stunts it had to pull to make a successful landing like that is mind boggling.
"Maybe it's just a bunch of stuff that happens." -- Homer Simpson
"Some people focus on the destination. Atheists focus on the journey." -- Barry Goldberg

Dark Lightning

Quote from: Randy on February 20, 2021, 01:53:11 AM
I didn't even realize it until today that the landing happened. I don't know how I missed it. I had been reading an article about it today and all the stunts it had to pull to make a successful landing like that is mind boggling.

The scientific community just keeps getting better at what they do. I'll have to say that the comments about "millions of lines of code" uttered by the people at NASA kind of crack me up, because in the early days of my time in aerospace (early '80s), programmers were allowed about 2k of RAM for a spacecraft. I might have missed that 2k by an order of magnitude (binary), though. The lack of memory is what caused the (almost) catastrophic y2k issue. Programmers figured out a way to make that a non-event, and the great unwashed consider them boobs for it.

ETA- I teared up when the landing was successful, because I've put a lot of effort into some things that I've worked on for many years, and can appreciate when things go right.

billy rubin



set the function, not the mechanism.

Randy

"Maybe it's just a bunch of stuff that happens." -- Homer Simpson
"Some people focus on the destination. Atheists focus on the journey." -- Barry Goldberg

billy rubin

i still can't figure out why we're going there. at least it doesn't cost much money.


set the function, not the mechanism.

Randy

Quote from: billy rubin on February 24, 2021, 06:06:21 PM
i still can't figure out why we're going there. at least it doesn't cost much money.
I think McDonald's has a stake in this. They are probably looking for a site to build.
"Maybe it's just a bunch of stuff that happens." -- Homer Simpson
"Some people focus on the destination. Atheists focus on the journey." -- Barry Goldberg

Recusant

Haven't been doing as well keeping track of Perseverance. Being about the little Mars-copter Ingenuity this item doesn't do a lot to improve on that, but worthwhile in my opinion.

"Two years after its first flight, Ingenuity helicopter goes for 50 on Mars" | CNN

QuoteThe Ingenuity helicopter just achieved a huge milestone on Mars. The little chopper successfully completed its record-breaking 50th flight on Thursday, a few days shy of the second anniversary of its first aerial journey.

Ingenuity flew for the first time on Mars on April 19, 2021, reaching a height of 10 feet (3 meters) and hovering for about half a minute before touching back down. That 39-second trip marked the first powered, controlled flight of a rotorcraft on another planet.

Since then, Ingenuity has surpassed all expectations, transitioning from a technology demonstration designed for five flights to an aerial scout for the Perseverance rover as it explores an ancient lake and river delta on Mars.

During its 50th flight, Ingenuity traveled over 1,057 feet (322.2 meters) in 145.7 seconds and achieved a new altitude record of 59 feet (18 meters). The chopper touched down near the 0.5-mile-wide (800-meter-wide) Belva Crater.

"Just as the Wright brothers continued their experiments well after that momentous day at Kitty Hawk in 1903, the Ingenuity team continues to pursue and learn from the flight operations of the first aircraft on another world," said Lori Glaze, director of the NASA Planetary Science Division, in a statement.

Since arriving on Mars with the Perseverance rover in February 2021, Ingenuity has flown for more than 89 minutes and 7.1 miles (11.6 kilometers). That's no mean feat considering that much of the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) chopper was built using off-the-shelf smartphone processors and cameras.

"When we first flew, we thought we would be incredibly lucky to eke out five flights," said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity team lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement. "We have exceeded our expected cumulative flight time since our technology demonstration wrapped by 1,250% and expected distance flown by 2,214%."

[Continues . . .]
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Asmodean

Quote from: billy rubin on February 24, 2021, 05:48:11 PM
Just shoot the landing aliens with rockets. Easier to prevent them from ever landing than it is to get them to bugger off once they have... If this here planet has taught us anything.
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.

Recusant

The connection with Ingenuity is becoming a bit more tenuous.

"Mars helicopter went silent for six sols, imperilled Perseverance rover" | The Register

QuoteNASA has revealed a six-day stretch during which it could not contact its Ingenuity Mars helicopter.

In a lengthy post, chief engineer Travis Brown explained that after the copter's 49th flight, radio contact was lost for six sols – just short of six days and six hours of terrestrial time.

Initially, NASA's Mars boffins weren't unduly concerned. The Perseverance Rover had moved behind a rocky outcrop that created a "communication shadow." Brown wrote that since Sol 685 the helicopter "had unfortunately been drifting in and out of night-time survival mode" which made daily contact with the craft difficult. So a day or two without contact wasn't worrying.

But once Perseverance moved to another location and Ingenuity still could not be found, Brown wrote "the situation began to generate some unease."

"Poor telecom performance was seen as a plausible explanation, but there were reasons to doubt it," he wrote. "In more than 700 sols operating the helicopter on Mars, not once had we ever experienced a total radio blackout. Even in the worst communications environments, we had always seen some indication of activity."

But the signal received on that day, sol 761, was just a simple ACK (acknowledgement). The next day, the copter again acknowledged a command, but did little else.

Mission staff determined that the ridge separating Ingenuity and Perseverance was a challenge for the copter's radio. It didn't help that Perseverance's helicopter base station (HBS) antenna is mounted low on the vehicle's right and is subject to occlusion effects.

[. . .]

With the rover on the move, and the helicopter stopped, it became imperative to get Ingenuity moving.

"Relying on the helicopter's onboard pre-flight checks to ensure vehicle safety and banking on solid communications from the rover's imminent proximity, the team uplinked the flight plan," Brown wrote.

Ingenuity did more than just ACK that upload. It ingested and executed it, resulting in its 50th flight and an altitude record of 18 meters.

"It would be an understatement to say that the helicopter team was relieved to see the successful flight telemetry in the Sol 763 downlink the following morning," Brown wrote.

But he added that anxious days lie ahead.

"It now appears that the dust covering our solar panel will ensure that Ingenuity will likely remain in this transitional power state for some time," he wrote. "This means that, much to the chagrin of her team, we are not yet done playing this high-stakes game of hide and seek with the playful little helicopter."

[Continues . . .]

"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken