The #MarsHelicopter is nearly ready to take off. Join the ride on http://nasa.gov/live

[soothsayer]

Link to tweet

?s=21


NASA JPL
@NASAJPL
The #MarsHelicopter is nearly ready to take off. Join the ride on http://nasa.gov/live

-April 9: Preflight briefing, 10am PT/1pm ET
-April 12: First flight data downlink, 12:30am PT/3:30am ET
-April 12: Postflight briefing, 8am PT/11am ET

Ask Qs below http://go.nasa.gov/39OtbAM

[brush]

1. What's the science on this? Mars' atmosphere is a lot thinner...

than Earth's.

[soothsayer]

2. It's very light, the blades spin really fast, and Mars' gravity helps

From the press kit:

Mars has a rarefied atmosphere – just about 1% of the density of our atmosphere on Earth. Because the Mars atmosphere is so much less dense, Ingenuity is designed to be light, with rotor blades that are much larger and spin much faster than what would be required for a helicopter of Ingenuity’s mass on Earth. Mars does give the helicopter a little help: The gravity there is only about one-third that of Earth’s. That means slightly more mass can be lifted at a given spin rate.

Ingenuity will attempt up to five test flights within a 30-Martian-day (31-Earth-day) demonstration window.

Its pioneering aspirations are similar to those of the Wright brothers' Flyer, which achieved the first powered, controlled flight on Earth.

[brush]

3. Thanks for the info. Looking at the photos one realizes that there's another...

world out there with terrain that looks like a remote area on Earth. Also makes me wonder if there is varied terrain with features other than that reddish dirt and stones?

[soothsayer]

4. Well there's the polar caps. There are some kind of tunnels or lava tubes

Some interesting pics here

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/images/index.html

[brush]

6. Thank you. There's a lot there.

[hibbing]

5. Super excited about this n/t