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from the good-things-come-to-those-who-wait dept.
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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @12:54PM (2 children)
Is it the area of the actual blades that matters or the area that is covered by the rotor disk?
This uses the rotor disk. No blade is going to have area of 50 m^2:
https://sciencing.com/calculate-lift-rotor-blades-7680704.html [sciencing.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @05:49PM (1 child)
Rotor disk area is what matters for any rotary blade system, be it helicopter or windmill. For fixed wings it is wingspan×airspeed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @07:02PM
Does that refer to the circle traced out by the blades as they spin? Or the actual physical surface area of the blades.
If the latter, how can it be 50 m^2 for a normal helicopter?