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Mars Helicopter Flight Delayed to No Earlier than April 14

posted by martyb on Sunday April 11 2021, @10:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the good-things-come-to-those-who-wait dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Straight from NASA we have word of a delay in the first flight of Ingenuity on Mars.

Mars Helicopter Flight Delayed To No Earlier Than April 14 - Nasa Mars:

Based on data from the Ingenuity Mars helicopter that arrived late Friday night, NASA has chosen to reschedule the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's first experimental flight to no earlier than April 14.

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. This occurred as it was trying to transition the flight computer from 'Pre-Flight' to 'Flight' mode. The helicopter is safe and healthy and communicated its full telemetry set to Earth.

The watchdog timer oversees the command sequence and alerts the system to any potential issues. It helps the system stay safe by not proceeding if an issue is observed and worked as planned.

The helicopter team is reviewing telemetry to diagnose and understand the issue. Following that, they will reschedule the full-speed test.

NASA has a web site devoted to Ingenuity.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @05:47AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @05:47AM (#1136265)

    in my opinion

    Found the bug! Your opinion is worth as much as any other non-rocket-scientist. And that would be nearly nothing. Thank you for expressing yourself, to us, who can't avoid reading such things.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @05:53PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @05:53PM (#1136555)

    You think the rocket scientists' opinion matters either? Congress dictates what they should buy, who to buy it from, how much they must spend on it, and then the engineers get to figure out how to build a rocket out of the pile of junk they get. With that kind of management it is a miracle that anything gets off the ground, let alone intact.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @12:46AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @12:46AM (#1136778)

      Wow, if only what you say was true, then you wouldn't sound so ignorant!