5 ms·

While I agree the idea would be novel and intriguing, it’s trying to keep alive an 84M experiment that was a footnote on a multi-billion-dollar expedition. I do

While I agree the idea would be novel and intriguing, it’s trying to keep alive an 84M experiment that was a footnote on a multi-billion-dollar expedition. I don’t think anyone would want to jeopardize the latter for the former, no matter how enticing.

systemvoltage 5y ago
How would it jeopardize the rover?
- dogma1138 5y ago
  Potentially crash into the rover. The more flights it takes the more likely it would eventually fail and it will not crash gracefully. Considering that other than would it actually fly and the coolness factor there isn’t much scientific value stemming from repeat flights as it carries little to no scientific instruments the risk even if it’s relatively low isn’t really worth it.
  - systemvoltage 5y ago
    This seems extreme and overly cautious, I think logically not sound. If there was a risk of the helicopter colliding, they wouldn't have done this project in the first place! Rover can be far away from the area of operation of the Helicopter. Even if it crashes, it weighs next to nothing and despite of its blades spinning at 2900 RPM, it has very little kinetic energy if impacted compared to the amount of abuse the rover had to endure when landing.
    - dogma1138 5y ago
      It has a mass of 2kg, and as you said two sets of carbon fiber rotors that are operating at nearly 3000 RPMs that’s more than enough to do some damage to Percy it can easily break an antenna, arm or the mast camera as well as damage other experiments. There is a very big difference between the landing shock when the rover was locked down and sensitive equipment protected and a flying lawnmower blades impacting sensitive equipment it wouldn’t surprise me it much of the rover skin is paper thin so you are potentially even at a higher risk here.
    - stevenhuang 5y ago
      This sounds like someone who has never flown an RC plane before. Nevermind the fact you think it won't damage the rover, which is beyond strange. The forces when landing have been modelled and taken into account, the helicopter crashing into the rover is not. If any one of the instruments is hit at the wrong angle, it's not hard to see it will be permanently knocked out.
  - nitrogen 5y ago
    Is Ingenuity's camera good enough to provide navigation photos for human mission planners?
    - dogma1138 5y ago
      It will be used for that too yes, also any camera is good enough for mission planning the we use the Mars orbiter as well as probably photos dating back to Viking still for mission planning since any photo is better than no photo. But the question is would it be worth the risk and would multiple flights produce that much more coverage given just how little distance ingenuity can actually leapfrog in a given flight. It’s main goal was a test bed for potential rotary aircraft on Mars as well as a test bed of the rapid development program that enabled NASA and JPL to build it relatively for so little money and so fast. It did its job I don’t really know if there’s that much more value from keeping Percy in range to do more flights since ingenuity can only be controlled through Percy.

systemvoltage 5y ago

How would it jeopardize the rover?

dogma1138 5y ago
Potentially crash into the rover. The more flights it takes the more likely it would eventually fail and it will not crash gracefully. Considering that other than would it actually fly and the coolness factor there isn’t much scientific value stemming from repeat flights as it carries little to no scientific instruments the risk even if it’s relatively low isn’t really worth it.
- systemvoltage 5y ago
  This seems extreme and overly cautious, I think logically not sound. If there was a risk of the helicopter colliding, they wouldn't have done this project in the first place! Rover can be far away from the area of operation of the Helicopter. Even if it crashes, it weighs next to nothing and despite of its blades spinning at 2900 RPM, it has very little kinetic energy if impacted compared to the amount of abuse the rover had to endure when landing.
  - dogma1138 5y ago
    It has a mass of 2kg, and as you said two sets of carbon fiber rotors that are operating at nearly 3000 RPMs that’s more than enough to do some damage to Percy it can easily break an antenna, arm or the mast camera as well as damage other experiments. There is a very big difference between the landing shock when the rover was locked down and sensitive equipment protected and a flying lawnmower blades impacting sensitive equipment it wouldn’t surprise me it much of the rover skin is paper thin so you are potentially even at a higher risk here.
  - stevenhuang 5y ago
    This sounds like someone who has never flown an RC plane before. Nevermind the fact you think it won't damage the rover, which is beyond strange. The forces when landing have been modelled and taken into account, the helicopter crashing into the rover is not. If any one of the instruments is hit at the wrong angle, it's not hard to see it will be permanently knocked out.
- nitrogen 5y ago
  Is Ingenuity's camera good enough to provide navigation photos for human mission planners?
  - dogma1138 5y ago
    It will be used for that too yes, also any camera is good enough for mission planning the we use the Mars orbiter as well as probably photos dating back to Viking still for mission planning since any photo is better than no photo. But the question is would it be worth the risk and would multiple flights produce that much more coverage given just how little distance ingenuity can actually leapfrog in a given flight. It’s main goal was a test bed for potential rotary aircraft on Mars as well as a test bed of the rapid development program that enabled NASA and JPL to build it relatively for so little money and so fast. It did its job I don’t really know if there’s that much more value from keeping Percy in range to do more flights since ingenuity can only be controlled through Percy.