[Spacetalk] https://www.nasa.gov/index.html; https://spaceflightnow.com

Sat Apr 10 01:31:28 CDT 2021

hi all,

  I hope you are doing well…I think this newsletter is going to 15 countries, over 1100 members, that is amazing…we all have a common interest…I feel so fortunate to be here at Kennedy Space Center, so many wonderful things to see and do…it has been shut down since the pandemic, only essential personnel can get on KSC, most of the people are working from home…not sure when it will get back to “normal”…I think many people will try to stay “ working from home" as they seem to enjoy it…I know, for me, there is no way I could work from home…too many distractions…the same with home schooling…I had a difficult time attending classes…I can’t imagine doing anything if I was home…(except going to the beach and playing sports) :-) :-) 

the date is almost here…the first flight of Ingenuity, the helicopter on Mars…I hope you can find a way to share this with your students….I know many of you are doing on line teaching, which to me must be very difficult, especially for the kids who are not doing well…I was one of those kids who struggled in school….at least in the classroom environment I was contained and paid a little attention…if I was home, forget it, there is no way I would do anything…I am not sure there would have been anything my parents could have done…so I understand why so many struggle outside the classroom…I am hoping, with the adventures of Perseverance and now Ingenuity, the kids will be more interested in remote learning…this is something special…just think, we have a small helicopter on a planet, over 400 million kilometers (250 million miles) away…there is a helicopter, with a video camera, going to fly looking at the terrain…I think many of you and the kids have been following the mission…the launch of Perseverance, the landing, Ingenuity separated from Perseverance, the amazing videos and pictures, and now the first flight…I’m hoping you can use this for a class project, an English lesson, an opportunity to make learning fun as you show math/science in real life applications…

be sure to register as a NASA virtual guest for the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission. (see the end of this email)

we have to stay positive and always be thankful… remembering to do our best, enjoy everything we do, believe in ourselves, and let those we care about most know (I always say this, we all need to take it to heart) …hugs & smiles... :-) :-) STAY SAFE, TAKE CARE, Love ya, Gabe

Take Flight with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
 <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001LntWaRP5y6mv87x0IvC9YKcQDRyIm5OwFRTh9tXlJJ6oCChcxXkfE1AaT7rZrT_K2fPNhQHi1Hxn1e6dTDara5SV9as0dC2gseZYHlUHHWPsGUjOvjfNGR_31wxBq3zYb9nVyUvRXBh3TzWePmrDKCo80LrHPlKEnx8_VQcLKa84G1OOja81JSy98Vk6-HeJ53qy1IrQaMrstYVVYkFozxht-V-WLE3X&c=gtHlYf7Z330YoaajB1wWilnEVXiKQqwAJGZk9YW-tbH5cy3SEy4-Ww==&ch=p5dWpM9E-__LkrTcP7mCeClKXIz5dDZl8cfatyb-kFs2AIjty0il9Q==>

We're inviting you to join us for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet. The helicopter team is targeting no earlier than Sunday, April 11, for the historic first flight. Up, up, and away! The Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter <https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/marshelicopter> is set to make history. It will make the first attempt at powered flight on another planet late on Sunday, April 11.  Don’t miss your chance to watch live with helicopter team in mission control beginning at 3:30 a.m. EDT (12:30 a.m. PDT/ 7:30 a.m. UTC) Monday, April 12 as they receive the data and find out if they were successful. Come along for the ride and ask questions during the briefing.

https://youtu.be/ND7YO715QOE <https://youtu.be/ND7YO715QOE> 

NASA’s Mars Helicopter to Make First Flight Attempt Sunday
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia24581-1200.jpg>
pia24581-1200.jpg
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Lee este anuncio de prensa en español aquí <https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/el-helic-ptero-de-marte-de-la-nasa-intentar-realizar-su-primer-vuelo-el-domingo>.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is two days away from making humanity’s first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. If all proceeds as planned, the 4-pound (1.8-kg) rotorcraft is expected to take off from Mars’ Jezero Crater Sunday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. local Mars solar time (10:54 p.m. EDT, 7:54 p.m. PDT), hovering 10 feet (3 meters) above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Mission control specialists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California expect to receive the first data from the first flight attempt the following morning at around 4:15 a.m. EDT (1:15 a.m. PDT). NASA TV will air live coverage of the team as they receive the data, with commentary beginning at 3:30 a.m. EDT (12:30 a.m. PDT).

“While Ingenuity carries no science instruments, the little helicopter is already making its presence felt across the world, as future leaders follow its progress toward an unprecedented first flight,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters. “We do tech demos like this to push the envelope of our experience and provide something on which the next missions and the next generation can build. Just as Ingenuity was inspired by the Wright brothers, future explorers will take off using both the data and inspiration from this mission.”
The Mars Helicopter is a high-risk, high-reward technology demonstration. If Ingenuity were to encounter difficulties during its 30-sol (Martian day) mission, it would not impact the science gathering of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover mission.
Flying in a controlled manner on Mars is far more difficult than flying on Earth. Even though gravity on Mars is about one-third that of Earth’s, the helicopter must fly with the assistance of an atmosphere whose pressure at the surface is only 1% that of Earth. If successful, engineers will gain invaluable in-flight data at Mars for comparison to the modeling, simulations, and tests performed back here on Earth. NASA also will gain its first hands-on experience operating a rotorcraft remotely at Mars. These data sets will be invaluable for potential future Mars missions that could enlist next-generation helicopters to add an aerial dimension to their explorations.
“From day one of this project our team has had to overcome a wide array of seemingly insurmountable technical challenges,” said MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager at JPL. “And here we are – safely on Mars – on the eve of our first flight attempt. We got this far with a never-say-die attitude, a lot of friends from many different technical disciplines, and an agency that likes to turn far-out ideas into reality.”
Anatomy of a First Flight
Sunday’s flight will be autonomous, with Ingenuity’s guidance, navigation, and control systems doing the piloting. That’s mostly because radio signals will take 15 minutes, 27 seconds to bridge the 173-million-mile (278-million-kilometer) gap between Mars and Earth. It’s also because just about everything about the Red Planet is demanding.
“Mars is hard not only when you land, but when you try to take off from it and fly around, too,” said Aung. “It has significantly less gravity, but less than 1% the pressure of our atmosphere at its surface. Put those things together, and you have a vehicle that demands every input be right.”
Events leading up to the first flight test begin when the Perseverance rover, which serves as a communications base station for Ingenuity, receives that day’s instructions from Earth. Those commands will have travelled from mission controllers at JPL through NASA’s Deep Space Network to a receiving antenna aboard Perseverance. Parked at “Van Zyl Overlook <https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24435>,” some 215 feet (65 meters) away, the rover will transmit the commands to the helicopter about an hour later.
Then, at 10:53 p.m. EDT (7:53 p.m. PDT), Ingenuity will begin undergoing its myriad preflight checks. The helicopter will repeat the blade-wiggle test it performed three sols prior. If the algorithms running the guidance, navigation, and control systems deem the test results acceptable, they will turn on the inertial measurement unit (an electronic device that measures a vehicle’s orientation and rotation) and inclinometer (which measures slopes). If everything checks out, the helicopter will again adjust the pitch of its rotor blades, configuring them so they don’t produce lift during the early portion of the spin-up.
The spin-up of the rotor blades will take about 12 seconds to go from 0 to 2,537 rpm, the optimal speed for the first flight. After a final systems check, the pitch of the rotor blades will be commanded to change yet again – this time so they can dig into those few molecules of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon available in the atmosphere near the Martian surface. Moments later, the first experimental flight test on another planet will begin.
“It should take us about six seconds to climb to our maximum height for this first flight,” said JPL’s Håvard Grip, the flight control lead for Ingenuity. “When we hit 10 feet, Ingenuity will go into a hover that should last – if all goes well – for about 30 seconds.”
While hovering, the helicopter’s navigation camera and laser altimeter will feed information into the navigation computer to ensure Ingenuity remains not only level, but in the middle of its 33-by-33-foot (10-by-10-meter) airfield – a patch of Martian real estate chosen for its flatness and lack of obstructions. Then, the Mars Helicopter will descend and touch back down on the surface of Jezero Crater, sending data back to Earth, via Perseverance, to confirm the flight.
Perseverance is expected to obtain imagery of the flight using its Navcam and Mastcam-Z imagers, with the pictures expected to come down that evening (early morning Monday, April 12, in Southern California). The helicopter will also document the flight from its perspective, with a color image and several lower-resolution black-and-white navigation pictures possibly being available by the next morning.  
“The Wright brothers only had a handful of eyewitnesses to their first flight, but the historic moment was thankfully captured in a great photograph,” said Michael Watkins, director of JPL. “Now 117 years later, we are able to provide a wonderful opportunity to share the results of the first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another world via our robotic photographers on Mars.”
More About Ingenuity
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages this technology demonstration project for NASA Headquarters in Washington. It is supported by NASA’s Science, Aeronautics, and Space Technology mission directorates. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance.
At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program executive for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. At JPL, MiMi Aung is the project manager and J. (Bob) Balaram is chief engineer.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter.
For more information about Ingenuity: https://go.nasa.gov/ingenuity-press-kit <https://go.nasa.gov/ingenuity-press-kit> and https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter <https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter>
More About Perseverance A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology <https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/>, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
JPL built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. For more about Perseverance: nasa.gov/perseverance <http://nasa.gov/perseverance> and mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ <http://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/>

https://www.space.com/mars-rover-perseverance-helicopter-ingenuity-photo?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SDC_Newsletter&utm_content=SDC_Newsletter+&utm_term=2868862 <https://www.space.com/mars-rover-perseverance-helicopter-ingenuity-photo?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SDC_Newsletter&utm_content=SDC_Newsletter+&utm_term=2868862> 
Mars Helicopter Ingenuity snaps 1st color photo on Red Planet
By Mike Wall - Space.com Senior Writer <https://www.livescience.com/author/mike-wall> 3 days ago
And the little chopper could take to the skies for the first time on Sunday (April 11).

NASA's little Mars helicopter <https://www.space.com/ingenuity-mars-helicopter-perseverance-rover> has opened its eyes on the Red Planet.

The 4-lb. (1.8 kilograms) chopper, known as Ingenuity, snapped its first color photograph on Saturday (April 3), shortly after being lowered to the Martian dirt by the Perseverance rover <https://www.space.com/perseverance-rover-mars-2020-mission>.

The tableau shows "the floor of Mars' Jezero Crater and a portion of two wheels of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover," agency officials wrote in a description on Monday <https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25782/ingenuitys-first-color-snap/#.YGtX9yOIvpo.twitter> (April 5), when the photo was released.

Video: Watch NASA's Mars helicopter unfold like a butterfly <https://www.space.com/mars-helicopter-unfolds-legs-perseverance-rover-video>
The car-sized Perseverance landed inside the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero on Feb. 18 with Ingenuity firmly attached to its belly. The rover deployed Ingenuity on Saturday <https://www.space.com/mars-helicopter-ingenuity-touches-down-martian-surface> and has since moved a short distance away, allowing the Martian sunlight to reach the solar-powered rotorcraft.

Over the next few days, Perseverance will drive still farther away, to a place called Van Zyl Overlook, which provides a good view of the airfield that mission team members have chosen for Ingenuity. If all goes according to plan, Ingenuity will lift off as soon as Sunday (April 11), conducting the first-ever powered flight in the skies of a world beyond Earth.

The goal is to demonstrate that this exploration mode is feasible on Mars. If Ingenuity performs well during its month-long, five-flight campaign, future Red Planet missions could commonly include helicopters <https://www.space.com/mars-helicopter-nasa-space-exploration.html>, as scouts for rovers and as explorers in their own right, NASA officials have said.

Ingenuity doesn't carry any science instruments. But the little flyer will capture imagery during its flights, and those photos should be sharper than the grainy one it snapped on Saturday from beneath Perseverance, NASA officials said.

Coverage Set for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 Briefings, Events, Broadcasts
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/51084589487_1ebbc1f7c7_k.jpeg>
The crew for the second long-duration SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2, are pictured during a training session at the SpaceX training facility in Hawthorne, California. From left are, Mission Specialist Thomas Pesquet of the (ESA (European Space Agency); Pilot Megan McArthur of NASA; Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA; and Mission Specialist Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Credits: SpaceX

You are invited to be a NASA virtual guest for the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission. 

The launch, on a Falcon 9 rocket, is targeted for no earlier than Thursday, April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission will carry NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur – who will serve as the mission’s spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively – along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who will serve as mission specialists. 

Click on the registration button below to receive mission updates, interactive opportunities, and a stamp for your NASA virtual passport following launch. All resources, participation, and registration are FREE.

Sincerely, 

NASA Guest Operations
REGISTER FOR CREW-2
 <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001HjKVUxG9-TUEQFa0r_wFyAwa8XywDcyGR_4VfERddZgBIdRxOkRW8nYTnn6FW01FBjajdtrMDwVZwoY3fsvWKlCN-R5pV2zvp68Ful59Rtrk18XVc0LDspDQ1JITtLPsy6BezGiO5uBI0ZSzAui-HVi3kAXkzYOz-lVyOybkMbNXCQuju-y1aU6xy2O7ZrEA7DB1n9HfM3P6nTS6F2aWtAAq70w0aXprv6ew5a6tzzC82OmWKTbuJA==&c=HXGUOO9s3X1RbbPjNIynA1BdYPZp_tG6t0pVUIuvn3RxQQNuo39dLA==&ch=UJdnkzPihRHa3yFfEJrQu7er-BWqgnULFZs1MiCaigFXok_Vg7SDnA==>

Soyuz crew welcomed aboard International Space Station <https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/04/09/soyuz-crew-welcomed-aboard-international-space-station/>

 <https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/04/09/soyuz-crew-welcomed-aboard-international-space-station/>
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two cosmonauts blasted off from Kazakhstan Friday and docked with the International Space Station after a two-orbit chase, the first step in a record crew rotation requiring two launches and two landings with four different spacecraft in just three weeks.

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