Ingenuity Postpones Flights Until August

Space Daily

2 years ago

It’s now dust season and winter on Mars, meaning there’s more dust in the air and less sunlight to help recharge Ingenuity’s batteries. Dust levels are expected to subside later in July, so the team has decided to give the helicopter’s batteries a break for a few weeks and build their daily state of charge back up. Weather permitting, Ingenuity is expected to be back in the air around the start of August.

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Keeping Our Sense of Direction: Dealing With a Dead Sensor

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 08, 2022

As the season has turned to winter in Jezero Crater, conditions have become increasingly challenging for Ingenuity, which was designed for a short flight-test campaign during the much warmer Martian spring. Increased amounts of dust in the atmosphere, combined with lower daytime temperatures and shorter days, have impacted Ingenuity’s energy budget to the point where it is unable to keep itself warm throughout the Martian nights.

In its new winter operations paradigm, Ingenuity is effectively shut … read more