Use wechat scan QR code < / P > < p > to share with friends and circle of friends < / P > < p > <-- According to the news on May 1, NASA's dexterous < a target = "_ blank" href=" https://news.163.com/news/search?keyword=%E7%81%AB%E6%98%9F "> Mars < / a > < a target ="_ blank" href=" https://news.163.com/news/search?keyword=%E7%9B%B4%E5%8D%87%E6%9C%BA "> helicopter < / a > completes the fourth < a target ="_ blank" href=" https://news.163.com/news/search?keyword=%E9%A3%9E%E8%A1%8C "> flying < / a > mission, it rose to an altitude of 16 feet (about 4.8 meters) from the surface of Mars, flew 436 feet (about 132.9 meters) southward, and successfully returned to the starting point < p > a week and a half ago, the dexterous Mars helicopter successfully completed its first flight to Mars, creating a history of human powered flight on another planet. On Friday, the dexterous completed its fourth flight, which is farther and faster than ever before < p > Image: the dexterous Mars helicopter took off at noon on Mars at 10:49 a.m. EDT on Friday. After rising to an altitude of 4.8 meters from the surface of Mars, it flew 132.9 meters south, skimming rocks, sand dunes and small craters. Dexterous circled in the air, took pictures with her camera, and then flew back to her starting point < p > the flight distance is more than twice that of five days ago. The flight time of dexterous is 117 seconds, while the third flight is 80 seconds; And the dexterous flew faster, with a top speed of 8 miles per hour At a press conference earlier in the day, NASA announced that it would extend the life of the dexterous by another 30 days. Now the engineers who remotely control dexterous have proved that the spacecraft can fly in the thin air of Mars. Next, they will explore how to explore the surface of Mars from the air with Mars helicopter and willpower Rover "It can be said that dexterous is about to graduate from the technology demonstration stage," Mimi Aung, project manager of dexterous, said at a news conference on Friday The service life of dexterous was originally set at 30 Martian days. NASA originally planned that the Mars helicopter would not fly after its life. NASA's $2.7 billion willpower Rover landed on Mars in February this year, while the dexterous Mars helicopter, which is only 1.6 feet (0.4 meters) high and weighs 4 pounds (1.8 kg), is a supplementary exploration equipment for willpower Rover < p > the life extension of dexterous not only reflects the success of the flight plan, but also reflects the desire of the willpower Mars rover project team to explore the surrounding Martian environment. The willpower rover is located in the 45 kilometer wide Jero crater. Scientists had predicted that the rover would go to an ancient Dry River Delta, where it would look for signs of life on Mars < p > "we've found a lucky spot," Kenneth Farley, a professor of planetary chemistry at Caltech and a scientist on the willpower Mars rover project, said in an email. He said the site "provides a good opportunity for us to investigate Martian rocks that were almost impossible to see before." Scientists hope that at least one rock sample will be collected by the willpower Mars rover, so that it can be sent back to earth in the follow-up mission. The age of Mars when the lake first filled with water can be determined by dating the rocks Farley predicted that willpower will spend hundreds of Martian days to explore less than 1.6km away from Mars rover in Jero crater, which is equivalent to more than a year on earth Now the mission focus of willpower Mars rover will turn to scientific observation on the surface of Mars. This means that the willpower rover will no longer take photos and videos of the dexterous helicopter flying in the air < p > "we're really focused on helicopters," Jennifer Trosper, deputy manager of the rover program, said at a news conference. "Now we're going to take our attention away." < p > in the fourth flight, dexterous used its camera to find a new starting point for its future flight. Its fifth flight will be a one-way flight to the new location, followed by one or two flights in May The helicopter can carry out reconnaissance missions, help plan the route of willpower, take photos of rugged areas that cannot be reached by the rover, and generate three-dimensional images of the surface of Mars, said mimion "The lessons learned from this experiment will be useful for future air exploration missions," she said < p > Lingqiao made a flight attempt this week, but a problem encountered earlier this month recurred < p > in a test on April 9, the helicopter rotor rotated at full speed without taking off, and the starting time was longer than expected. In the end, the dexterous computer did not enter flight mode, but shut down the engine. During the week-long troubleshooting process, engineers developed software fixes but did not install them. Because the latest software is still likely to cause more problems, just as upgrading a computer's operating system may cause a system crash. Besides, the computer is 200 million kilometers away from the earth on Mars, and the risk of collapse is even higher < p > the engineers finally chose a simpler solution: keep the software on the dexterous helicopter unchanged, but adjust the commands sent from earth to Mars. This can solve the problem to a large extent, but it is not a perfect solution. It eliminates the problem, but it's not a perfect solution. Tests on earth show that there is still a 15% chance of a time difference error But engineers also know that if there is a problem again, they can always try again the next day. Fortunately, Friday's second attempt went well < p > If dexterous can continue to operate and prove useful, NASA will continue to extend its service life The helicopter's design life is only 30 Martian days, and no one knows how long it will work, said Bob Balaram, chief engineer of mimion and dexterous. But Balaram also said that the operation life of dexterous is not certain. The helicopter is charged by solar panels and its kinetic energy will not be exhausted The top speed of dexterous may not seem particularly fast, but the helicopter must be flying without the help of earth engineers ?
2023-03-22 10:04:33