NASA postpones helicopter flight on Mars once again

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter project on Mars is having trouble getting off the ground.

The space agency’s much-buzzed-about first powered flight on another planet has been rescheduled a second time due to technical concerns.

Initially, NASA’s “Wright Brother’s moment,” slated for Sunday, was pushed back to Wednesday after the agency discovered an issue with the aircraft’s rotors. Then, late Monday, NASA said it’s pushing the launch back again to modify and reinstall the copter’s flight control software.

“Ingenuity is healthy, but it needs a flight software update. While the development of the software is straightforward, validating and uplinking it will take time. We will set a new flight date next week,” NASA said in a tweet.

It’s no wonder NASA is being careful and taking a highrisk, high-reward approach to test flying the aircraft on the Red Planet. It’s an expensive undertaking years in the making. If successful, it could open new avenues for exploration on other planets.

Ingenuity, which rocketed from Earth inside the belly of the space rover Perseverance on July 30, made it to Mars in February and spent just over a week getting ready for the spotlight. Perseverance, a $3 billion project to check for signs of life on Mars, is the main attraction. The $80 million robotic drone is the follow-up act.

The aircraft went through the multiday process of descending from the rover, unfurling its solar panels and powering up to prepare for what was supposed to be its first launch Sunday. But, two days before the big event, its rotors failed.

“During a high-speed spin test of the rotors on Friday, the command sequence controlling the test ended early due to a ‘watchdog’ timer expiration,” according to NASA. The timer was designed to stop the operation if it detects issues.

NASA said a software update is necessary to address the issue. The agency now has to develop, test and upload new software onto flight controllers. Then, it has to reboot Ingenuity to move forward with its mission.

The software trouble postponed what is supposed to be a brief flight. The plan was for Ingenuity to take off, hover for about 30 seconds, then land in place. It’s an easy accomplishment for drones on Earth, but a challenging feat on the Red Planet 300 million miles away.

The atmosphere on Mars is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s, making liftoff more difficult. To compensate, Ingenuity’s rotors will make about 2,500 revolutions per minute, which is far faster than a passenger helicopter on Earth.

Still, NASA hopes the eventual liftoff will kick off five aerial demonstrations, each more challenging than the previous one, over about 30 days.