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»Ingenuity«: The dwarf helicopter of the rover »Perseverance« stands on the surface of Mars
Photo: HANDOUT / AFP
Due to technical problems, the US space agency Nasa postponed the first helicopter flight over another planet.
The dwarf helicopter "Ingenuity", which landed on board the rover "Perseverance" on Mars in February, will now take off on April 14th at the earliest, tweeted NASA on Saturday.
Previously, the earliest possible start date was April 11th, i.e. this Sunday.
The helicopter is set to open the age of flight on the red planet.
A high-speed test of the rotors was canceled on Friday due to problems getting the flight computer into flight mode, Nasa said.
The helicopter is safe and sound and has transmitted the data.
The helicopter team is checking the readings to diagnose and understand the problem, it said.
The high-speed test is then repeated.
The 1.8 kilogram “Ingenuity” (in German: ingenuity) is to rise in its first test flight to a height of about three meters, hover there for thirty seconds and then land again on the surface of Mars.
It would be the first flight of an aircraft on another planet.
The “Ingenuity” powered by lithium-ion batteries could make several more flight attempts for around a month.
Aircraft such as “Ingenuity” could revolutionize space exploration because they could be used to explore more areas and, because of their surface structure, areas of alien celestial bodies that are difficult to navigate.
The mini helicopter has an integrated camera that can take high-resolution photos while flying.
Overall, NASA is planning up to five "Ingenuity" flights of various difficulty levels.
The helicopter has to defy extreme conditions: On Mars it is cold down to minus 90 degrees Celsius at night, the gravitational pull of the planet is also lower and the atmosphere is much thinner.
The mini-helicopter was placed in the belly of »Perseverance« at the end of February - after 203 days of flight and almost 472 million kilometers traveled - with a risky maneuver in a dried-up Mars lake called »Jezero Crater«.
"Perseverance" is to investigate this lake with a diameter of around 45 kilometers over the next two years.
The Mars rover, which costs around $ 2.5 billion (about 2.2 billion euros), will search for traces of earlier microbial life and research the planet's climate and geology.
The robot, which weighs around a thousand kilograms and is the size of a small car, has seven scientific instruments, 23 cameras and a laser on board.
Interest in Mars is currently growing in many nations.
The United Arab Emirates, for example, have just placed an orbiter in orbit with international help.
A Chinese probe that is supposed to drop a rover for the first time in the spring has also been circling there recently.
Researchers from the European Esa and the Russian Roskosmos want to send their planned Martian mobile, if everything goes well, in the coming year.
wit / dpa / AFP
