NASA Will Finally Delay Ingenuity Helicopter Mission On Mars, Here's Why!

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on Mars is having problems because its solar panels are covered in dust. (photo: doc. nasa)

JAKARTA - Recently, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on Mars encountered a problem because its solar panels were covered in dust from the planet. Therefore, NASA decided to postpone the entire mission.

The dust reduces Ingenuity's ability to recharge its six lithium-ion batteries. The helicopter needs all the solar energy it can get.

Due to this battery issue, the helicopter flight control team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory lost contact with the helicopter on May 3. After losing contact, engineers estimate its flight computer went into shutdown mode due to a lack of power.

In this situation, nearly all of the helicopter's electronics were turned off to protect them from the frigid night temperatures, more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit below freezing.

Then Ingenuity summons the nearest robot explorer, Perseverance. Since its internal clock has been reset, the robot won't listen. So the engineering team ordered Perseverance to halt all ongoing science activities for a full day, to listen carefully to Ingenuity's call.

Launching ArsTechnica, Tuesday, May 10, however, as the northern hemisphere of Mars is also approaching the end of winter in less than two months. Now, the entire Mars mission has been put on hold in hopes of saving the tiny vehicle.

According to NASA, Ingenuity is currently stable and the solar array has managed to charge its battery up to 41 percent. Scientists say they hope to resume Ingenuity flights in the next few days once the helicopter's batteries are fully charged.

In addition, NASA scientists must also take several steps to maintain Ingenuity's battery life. For example, they have now ordered helicopter heaters to turn on only when the battery temperature drops to minus 40 degrees, much colder than the previous point of 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

It's not known how many off-the-shelf components the vehicle would have run without this additional heating during frigid Martian nights.

For your information, if Ingenuity hadn't experienced this kind of problem, he should have made five experimental flights in the next 30 days.