How NASA Is Making The Mars Helicopter More Capable
By now, the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars has far outperformed the expectations and even initial goals of NASA. The technology demonstration has become a core part of the planet’s exploration and even sample return process. With this new mission profile however has come a few challenges that weren’t originally planned for.
When the Perseverance Rover landed in the Jezero crater and deployed Ingenuity, the terrain, as planned, was very flat and friendly for both rover and primarily helicopter test operations. With a relatively short mission duration, the agency wasn’t worried about the terrain as Ingenuity was only meant to last so long. This being said, as the mission continued and the helicopter continued to operate further that planned, aspects like terrain became an issue.
In order to solve this problem, NASA worked to upgrade the software and capabilities of Ingenuity in a few different ways. Here I will go more in-depth into how NASA solved this problem, its application to current heli operations, what it means for the future, and more.
Software Update
Around 600 sols into the mission, both Perseverance and Ingenuity had been traveling around the lower portion of the Jezero Crater. Their route and map highlight the terrain of this area which for the most part is flat and barren. However, by sol 700, the two had begun heading up a much more difficult area geologically challenging the rover and especially the helicopter. To prevent any issues with an unprepared helicopter, the agency attempted to solve the problem before this rough terrain.
Over the course of a few weeks, the operations team was working to install a major software update aboard the helicopter. This update provided Ingenuity with two major new capabilities: hazard avoidance when landing and the use of digital elevation maps to help navigate. In a report, the agency was quoted saying, “Ingenuity was developed as a technology demonstration and designed to operate on Mars in flat, smooth terrain like that at Wright Brothers Field. As Ingenuity moved on to exploring Jezero Crater alongside the Perseverance rover, we traveled through more challenging terrain than the team had ever anticipated.”
In the beginning, Ingenuity’s pilots needed to find airfields free of any rocks or other obstacles that could potentially damage the vehicle when landing. Obviously this environment is a very rocky place, so safe airfields were very tough to find. For this specific update, the agency made use of Ingenuity’s downward-facing navigation camera, to add hazard avoidance on landing. While in flight, Ingenuity will identify the safest visible landing site. When preparing to land, Ingenuity will then divert over to this selected site. This capability allows Ingenuity to safely land in rockier terrain than before, providing our pilots with many more potential landing sites.
For another example of Ingenuity exceeding expectations, NASA said that, “Ingenuity’s navigation software was designed to assume the vehicle was flying over flat terrain. When the helicopter is flying over terrain like hills, this flat-ground assumption causes Ingenuity’s navigation software to think the vehicle is veering, causing Ingenuity to start actually veering in an attempt to counter the error. Over long flights, navigation errors caused by rough terrain must be accounted for, requiring the team to select large airfields. This new software update corrects this flat-ground assumption by using digital elevation maps of Jezero Crater to help the navigation software distinguish between changes in terrain and vehicle movement. This increases Ingenuity’s accuracy, allowing the pilots to target smaller airfields going forward.”
As partially mentioned prior, this update occurred around 600 sols into the mission or around late 2022. Based on the current condition and continued use of Ingenuity, NASA seems to have figured out how to reliably determine and execute landing maneuvers no matter the terrain. As the rover and helicopter have continued on, they’ve only run into more difficult terrain. It’s safe to say that without this software update for Ingenuity, the helicopter might not still be side by side with Perseverance exploring the planet. After the update, the team used results from the simple flight to start testing these capabilities, ensuring that everything works as expected on the surface of Mars. They finished by saying, “The update brings out new functionality in Ingenuity, making it a far more capable vehicle and effective scout for Perseverance.”
Ingenuity’s Plan
Most recently, Ingenuity completed its 54th flight. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter acquired this image using its high-resolution color camera. This camera is mounted in the helicopter’s fuselage and pointed approximately 22 degrees below the horizon. This image was acquired on July 14, 2023 (Sol 852 of the Perseverance rover mission) at the local mean solar time of 10:06:02. This brought the total flight time up to 95.5 minutes and a total distance traveled over 12,200 meters.
As we most know, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is a small aircraft carried to the surface of the Red Planet attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover. It’s important to point out that Ingenuity’s mission is experimental in nature and completely independent of the rover’s science mission.
Ingenuity was deployed to the surface on April 4, 2021. On April 19, it became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. Flight at Mars is challenging because the Red Planet has a significantly lower gravity – one-third that of Earth’s – and an extremely thin atmosphere with only 1% the pressure at the surface compared to our planet. This means there are relatively few air molecules with which Ingenuity’s two 4-foot-wide (1.2-meter-wide) rotor blades can interact to achieve flight.
The rotorcraft’s flights are autonomous – piloted by onboard guidance, navigation, and control systems running algorithms developed by teams at JPL. Because data must be sent to and returned from the Red Planet over millions of miles using orbiting satellites and NASA’s Deep Space Network, Ingenuity cannot be flown with a joystick, and its flights are not observable from Earth in real time. To operate at Mars, the rotorcraft requires the Perseverance rover to assist in communications back and forth from Earth. This is one of the many reasons the two are trying there best to stick together.
After its fifth test flight (May 7, 2021), the Ingenuity experiment embarked on a new operations demonstration phase, exploring how aerial scouting and other functions could benefit future exploration of Mars and other worlds. The data from these flights is also being used to help inform decisions relating to considering small helicopters for the role as full standalone science craft carrying instrument payloads. In the distant future, Mars helicopters might even help astronauts explore the Red Planet.
In addition, the rotorcraft’s imagery is being used to directly support the Perseverance rover’s exploration of Jezero Crater. The science team is finding pictures from an aerial perspective beneficial helping assess what geologic features and locations are worthy of exploration, and rover planners are using the same to map out safe routes to get there.
Ingenuity has performed so well that NASA is even planning to send two more upgraded helicopters to the surface apart of the Mars Sample Return Mission. The Sample Recovery Helicopters are not planned to be the primary method of retrieving samples on Mars. Current plans call for the Perseverance rover to carry sample tubes directly to the Sample Retrieval Lander. However, should the rover become unable to deliver its onboard samples, the helicopters would be prepared to collect alternate sample tubes previously left on the surface by Perseverance.
The Sample Recovery Helicopters would be newly equipped with wheels to traverse along the ground in short distances, and grabber arms to secure tubes during flight. They would take off and land at predetermined sites, or helipads, that have been found suitable and safe, and would use in-flight, map-based navigation to reach the known locations of sample tubes left on the surface. Each helicopter would follow a four-day procedure to recover sample tubes. Day 1: fly to an area near the sample tube. Day 2: drive close to the tube and pick it up. Day 3: fly back to an area near the Sample Retrieval Lander. Day 4: drive close to the lander and drop the tube in the workspace of the lander’s Sample Transfer Arm. Scientists are currently investigating other potential science or exploration uses for the helicopters following the completion of the Mars Sample Return effort.
This technology has practically unlimited applications and could become the future of Mars and even other planet exploration. When flying, these helicopters avoid the rough terrain and get a great view of the surface and general surrounding area. Depending on the mission profile and goal, their supporting role could change the outcome of different missions. Something NASA is very intrigued by.
Conclusion
The Mars Ingenuity helicopter started on flat and relatively easy terrain before moving toward challenging geography. Since it wasn’t designed for this, NASA needed to update the helicopter in order to ensure it could land safely consistently. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.