5 ms·

Damage to the blade tip is apparent in the shadow. But I would try one more flight just to see how it fares in such conditions, if it can be corrected in softwa

• jtriangle 3y ago
  Might as well yolo it at this point
• dfcab 3y ago
  Had the same thought but then wondered if the damage would cause vibration which would then lead to other issues.
• 1970-01-01 3y ago
  Budget-wise, it's not worth trying anything else. There is a lot of prop damage here: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/e1-pia26243-ingenuity-spots-the-shadow-of-its-damaged-rotor-blade.jpg https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/e1-pia26243-...
• rtkwe 3y ago
  To fly Ingenuity has to spin it's propellers very quickly due to the lower atmospheric density compared to Earth and that's a large chunk taken out of the blade. We can already guess what'll happen without testing it and it'll be some variation of the craft shaking itself to pieces and throwing debris all over that chunk of Mars. Better to just let it sit than toss all sorts of trash across the surface that could hit the rover.
  • LorenPechtel 3y ago
    Yup. I get the impression this was a forced landing, it put itself down on too steep a slope and caused a rotor strike. Helicopters do not like unbalanced rotors! And think of what happens if it fails at speed: The rotors are 4' across, so 2' from tip to hub. 2,400 rpm for the low end of flight speed. That's 40 rotations per second, the average speed of a rotor is therefore 40 rps * 2' * (2 * pi {path traced by the rotor}) / 2 {for the midpoint of the rotor} = 251 feet per second = 172 miles per hour. A rotor yeeted at 172 miles per hour will go quite a ways on Mars (especially since it's on a slope--it could be lobbed at an angle, not merely flat) and there's a very, very expensive spacecraft nearby. (And it must be nearby--Ingenuity can't talk to Earth. You can't back off to a safe distance and try it.)
• bluGill 3y ago
  They can easily mimic the damage on earth. While there is more gravity, we can adjust atmosphere and measure lift, vibration and whatever. Probably modern engineering tools can do this all in software, but cutting the blade off a drone on earth is easy. Only if we are convinced by on earth simulation that we can still fly this should we attempt it. Otherwise attempting flight this risks doing more damage to something else. (the rover is too far away, so I guess not much - but that also means we can't observe what happens and adjust based on the rovers sensors)
  • JshWright 3y ago
    They can also account for gravity by pulling up on it with a tether (in a large vacuum chamber simulating the Martian atmosphere). That's how they tested the design originally.
• 0134340 3y ago
  That is just genius. NASA is wasting all this money on engineers when they could just ask HN.
  • Dylan16807 3y ago
    Don't be an ass. Someone saying what they would do isn't a criticism of NASA's ability to engineer. If it was worded more strongly it might be a criticism of NASA management, but even then neither side would be objectively correct.
• prismic 3y ago
  They talked about why they don't think it will fly anymore in the media briefing: - Ingenuity is balanced down to fractions of a gram, and any imbalance, especially at the speed that Ingenuity spins its rotor at, will cause the spacecraft to tear itself apart. - Most of the lift comes from the last 25 - 30% of its lift capacity. They think they lost about 25% of the rotor blade, and even if somehow the other blades lost the exact same amount to be completely balanced, there's just not enough lift left.