|
NASA's Mars Helicopter Attached to Mars 2020 Rover Engineers
attached NASA's Mars Helicopter, which will be the first aircraft to fly
on another planet, to the belly of the Mars 2020 rover today in the High Bay 1 clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California.
The
twin-rotor, solar-powered helicopter was connected, along with the
Mars Helicopter Delivery System, to a plate on the rover's belly that includes
a cover to shield the helicopter from debris during entry, descent and landing.
The helicopter will remain encapsulated after landing, deploying to the surface
once a suitable area to conduct test flights is found at Jezero Crater, the rover's
destination.
The Mars Helicopter is considered a high-risk,
high-reward technology demonstration. If the small craft encounters
difficulties, the science-gathering of the Mars 2020 mission won't be impacted.
If the helicopter does take flight as designed, future Mars missions could enlist
second-generation helicopters to add an aerial dimension to their explorations.
"Our
job is to prove that autonomous, controlled flight can be executed in the
extremely thin Martian atmosphere," said JPL's MiMi Aung, the Mars
Helicopter project manager. "Since our helicopter is designed as a flight
test of experimental technology, it carries no science instruments. But if we
prove powered flight on Mars can work, we look forward to the day when Mars
helicopters can play an important role in future explorations of the Red
Planet."
Along
with investigating difficult-to-reach destinations such as cliffs, caves and
deep craters, they could carry small science instruments or act as scouts for
human and robotic explorers. The agency intends to establish a sustained human
presence on and around the Moon through NASA's Artemis lunar exploration plans, using the Moon as a stepping
stone to putting humans on Mars.
"The
Wright Brothers flew the first airplane at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, but they built it in Dayton," said NASA
Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "The
Mars Helicopter, destined to be the first aircraft to fly on another world, was
built in Pasadena, California. Joined now to the 2020 rover, it is yet another
example of how NASA's Artemis generation is expanding humanity's reach in our
solar system."
"With this joining of two great
spacecraft, I can say definitively that all the pieces are in place for a
historic mission of exploration," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission
Directorate at NASA's headquarters in Washington. "Together, Mars 2020 and
the Mars Helicopter will help define the future of science and exploration of
the Red Planet for decades to come."
The Mars 2020 rover, with
the Mars Helicopter aboard, will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V
rocket in July 2020 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station in Florida. When it lands at Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021, the
rover will be the first spacecraft in the history of planetary exploration with
the ability to accurately retarget its point of touchdown during the landing sequence.
JPL is building and will manage operations of the Mars 2020
rover and the Mars Helicopter for NASA. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. Lockheed Martin
Space provided the Mars
Helicopter Delivery System.
To
submit your name to travel to Mars with NASA's 2020 mission and obtain a
souvenir boarding pass to the Red Planet, go here by Sept. 30, 2019:
https://go.nasa.gov/Mars2020Pass
For more information about the mission, go to:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
For more information
about NASA's Mars missions, go to:
https://www.nasa.gov/mars
|
