(ORDO NEWS) — Mars is a very dusty planet. Dust is a constant problem for exploration missions.
This is also true for the Ingenuity rotorcraft, which has been exploring the Red Planet since February 2021 together with the NASA Perseverance rover.
Scientists from the Stevens Institute of Technology, the Space Science Institute and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have completed a Martian dust dynamics study based on Ingenuity’s first flights over the Red Planet.
This work could be useful for the Mars sample return program or for the Dragonfly mission, which will go to Titan in 2027.
“Studying the dynamics of dust on another planet is not easy,” explained Jason Rabinovich, co-author of the paper. “It’s hard to send video and images back to Earth, so we have to work with what we can get.”
Rabinovich and his colleagues used advanced image processing techniques to extract information from videos taken during six helicopter flights. The videos shot by Perseverance were in low resolution.
By determining the tiny differences between video frames and the light intensity of individual pixels, the scientists were able to calculate both the size and total mass of the dust clouds that formed as Ingenuity took off, hovered, maneuvered and landed.
The results were within the reach of Rabinovich’s engineering models.
The study shows that, as expected, dust is an important factor for rotorcraft. Ingenuity is estimated to have kicked up about 2 kilograms of dust during each flight.
“When you think about dust on Mars, you have to take into account not only less gravity, but also the effects of air pressure, temperature, air density – there’s a lot we don’t fully understand yet,” Rabinovich said.
“However, that’s what makes studying Ingenuity’s dust clouds so exciting.”
A better understanding of the causes of equipment failures will allow NASA to extend future robotic missions, keeping solar panels operational longer and allowing fragile instruments to land safely on the dusty surface of Mars.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.