NASA's Mars Helicopter Passes Another Flight Test (theverge.com) 60
The autonomous rotorcraft NASA is planning to integrate with the agency's Mars 2020 rover mission has successfully passed another round of important tests. The Verge reports: Earlier this year, JPL conducted tests of the helicopter in "a simulated Martian environment" that put the helicopter through temperatures as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit and flew it in a vacuum chamber that simulated Martian air -- it was also attached to a "motorized lanyard" to help simulate Martian gravity. Some of the testing was to ensure that the Mars Helicopter could survive the conditions it would experience during an actual rocket launch. The Mars Helicopter is now back at JPL, where it will has already had a new solar panel installed. NASA says that it isn't putting any science instruments on the helicopter beyond a camera, but that instead it's a "technology demonstrator" to prove that it's possible to remotely fly a Martian drone from Earth.
Which link has the picture? (Score:1)
This isn't an article; it's a damn link farm! :P
Re: (Score:3)
Re: A 5cm hover does not really count, does it? (Score:4, Funny)
I tried in KSP the other day, it worked.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
It resulted in an unplanned uncontrolled spontaneous explosive lithospheric impactor disassembly.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Ground effect (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Vid Exploring the Physics (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Who the fuck are you and why did you change the link in a quote?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: It's a home made drone because real ones are t (Score:3, Interesting)
We already know how to fly and maneuver in an ultra low density atmosphere. The atmospheric pressure on Mars is about the same as ours at 20 km altitude. The U2 spy plane goes higher than that, and does so in Earth gravity.
Bra-vo (Score:1)
>where it will has already had
The /. editors are doing an A+ job as per normal.
How much does the weaker gravity offset... (Score:2)
.. the low air density? Mars has 0.38G so does that mean instead of it being equipvalent of 100K feet (for thrust purposes) its 38K feet? Probably not because air density isn't linear but does anyone know?
Re: (Score:3)
They could save a lot of bucks by simply shooting enough footage of the tests, erase the tether, and publish it as actual footage from Mars! Just like they did with all those Moon missions! Just make sure there is some suitable scenery (reddish-hued sand and rocks) on the sound stage/vacuum chamber...
Yeah but they still have to send a rocket to mars so the savings aren't that great, plus you still have to build the thing, plus pay off all the people involved so they don't spill the beans. It's probably easier and cheaper just to send the thing to mars.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought the same thing about moon landing conspiracy theories. The effort required to cover it up, and to actually put stuff on the moon so that when other countries check the origin of the radio transmissions or bounce photons off the reflectors it all works right, is almost as much effort as getting a person up there anyway. Combined with the risk of international humiliation you might as well just send some blokes up there.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd say more effort. Blackmail requests tend to go up, not down, f'rinstance.
Also, I've seen lots of people that can't hide the fact that they have a secret.
And as you mentioned, USSR & China would not have kept quiet. Not even sure that allies would.
Re: (Score:2)
Also back then they expected there to be much more on-going space exploration. The Russians would get to the moon sooner or later, by 2000 people would be living up there etc. So any deception would have been discovered eventually. Even with the way things turned out, people will go back to those landing sites eventually.
Re: (Score:2)
If you're interested in Science Fiction, Andy Weir ( Author of The Martian) wrote an interesting book called Artemis about a lunar city right next to the Apollo landing site.
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks, I will check that out. There is an audiobook available and I have a long trip coming up.
Re: (Score:2)
The effort required to cover it up, and to actually put stuff on the moon so that when other countries check the origin of the radio transmissions or bounce photons off the reflectors it all works right, is almost as much effort as getting a person up there anyway.
I'm not convinced of that.
Surveyor successfully landed on the Moon. So getting "stuff" to the Moon was understood. Remote control of stuff on the Moon was understood. You would need to intercept NASA's messages to the Moon and broadcast them in real-time to the fake astronauts on Earth and send their replies back via the Moon in order to for the radio messages to work (and to make the time lag convincing).
The argument that NASA would have to be "in on it" isn't entirely accurate. Sure, a few people at N
Re: (Score:2)
Who do they have to pay off? The one guy running the deepfake software?
Potential flaw in testing method? (Score:3, Insightful)
Simulating low gravity with a motorized lanyard pulling the helicopter up, does not simulate the low gravity that all the gyro sensors will be experiencing, or the gravity which the spinning blades experience. It would suck if they get there, and find out their flight stabilization system doesn't work in low gravity, or the blades don't work well weighing 1/3 of what they did during the test.
Re:Potential flaw in testing method? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm fairly certain NASA has some extensive experience at this point with how sensors and gyros react on Mars and in zero/low gravity environments. They're confident of their functionality.
What they DON'T have experience with is how a rotor-based flying device works in a low-G/low atmosphere environment, which is exactly what these tests are designed for - to minimize the cost-loss associated with 'well, lets see if our physics math is right'. Adding a tether to reduce the 'weight' is about the best they can do, and it worked well enough for them to have to go through multiple iterations to find something that worked as expected under the conditions.
Re: (Score:3)
It's clear the designers were pretty thorough and have taken all the factors into account that they can.
The mass of the blades is the same, whether on earth or mars. Any effect involving mass, such as inertia and centripetal force will be the same regardless of the lower gravity. So the blades "weighing 1/3 of what they did during the test" doesn't matter. Obviously sensors that measure the acceleration of gravity such as are common in 6 DOF sensors have to be built for and calibrated for Mars' environme
Re: (Score:2)
While inertial effects would be the same, the gravity effect will not be the same. For example, if the blades are not being pulled down by gravity, they may rotate higher, or may even get into an oscillation as the lift created by the blade will lift if more (less gravity pulling the blade down) possibly even causing the tips of the two two rotors to clip each other if the blades were to oscillate out of phase. Another example, imagine there is some wire which stays down because of gravity, but in less grav
Re: (Score:2)
“At” is standard astronomical phraseology. When they say “possible life at Aldebaran,” the meaning is ‘anywhere in the vicinity of the star.’
Re: (Score:2)
"where it will has already had a new solar panel installed"
That's a legit typo. Unkindly reported, but at least fix the thing if you're going to mod down.
Re: (Score:2)
On topic? (Score:2)
This is pretty cool.
I know every thread is suppressed to devolve into a politely-biased screaming fest against each other, so maybe this will be modded Off topic.
Sponsored by Amazon (Score:1)
So would Musk get this tech for Mars (Score:2)