The first flight of a helicopter Mars “Creativity” was postponed – the problem is apparent

Due to technical problems, NASA has postponed its first helicopter flight over another planet. The small helicopter “Ibdaa” (in German “Einfallhaftum”), which landed on the “persistent” rover, on Mars in February, was supposed to take off on the 14th of April at the earliest. chirp NASA on Saturday. But now, a new date will not be announced until next week, according to the authority.

Start Soon: People Confident

It is now known why “creativity” cannot begin. According to NASA, it was a bug in the programming of the software responsible for the helicopter’s flight. The company said experts were looking at several options over the weekend to fix the problem Authority on their website On Tuesdays with. Program modification is necessary, and the helicopter software is then taken from the ground to it and reinstalled.

Before “creativity” finally begins, the sources of errors must be identified and corrected again, which will take some time. However, during such a project, troubleshooting and modifications are not uncommon, according to NASA. They are confident that the problem will be solved and that the helicopter will soon be able to take off on the first engine flight to another planet.

The first flight to another planet

The Creativity, which weighs about 1.8 kilograms, is supposed to rise to a height of about three meters on its first test flight, hover there for thirty seconds and then land again on Mars. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, the “creativity” could make several more flight attempts for about a month.

The helicopter must challenge extreme conditions: on Mars it is cold to minus 90 degrees Celsius at night, the planet’s gravitational force is less and the atmosphere is much thinner.

The tiny helicopter was placed in the belly of “perseverance” at the end of February – after 203 days of flight and 472 million kilometers – with a risky maneuver in a dry Martian lake called “Jezero Crater”. ‘Perseverance’ is to examine this lake, which has a diameter of about 45 km, over the next two years. While the team is now fully working on the fix, they can Determination Keep taking measurements and prepare for Moxie’s first test.