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Ingenuity flies on Mars

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
Our first powered flight on another planet happened this morning on Mars.

The Ingenuity helicopter lifted off, flew for about 40 seconds and touched down again.

We have photos of the shadow from the helicopter and of the flight from the Perseverance Rover.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...-helicopter-succeeds-in-historic-first-flight

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed its historic first flight - CNN

One aspect of this is that the atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 1% that of Earth, so developing lift is tricky.
 

We Never Know

No Slack
Our first powered flight on another planet happened this morning on Mars.

The Ingenuity helicopter lifted off, flew for about 40 seconds and touched down again.

We have photos of the shadow from the helicopter and of the flight from the Perseverance Rover.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...-helicopter-succeeds-in-historic-first-flight

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed its historic first flight - CNN

One aspect of this is that the atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 1% that of Earth, so developing lift is tricky.

Saw that this morning. While its kind of cool, Its not impressing to me.

On earth about 57% of land is considered uninhabitable. That's around 33% desert and around 24% mountainous.

If we can't inhabited that we aren't going to inhabit Mars.

Not to mention all that's $$$ being spent could go toward feeding the hungry and housing the homeless.

That's me though.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
Saw that this morning. While its kind of cool, Its not impressing to me.

On earth about 57% of land is considered uninhabitable. That's around 33% desert and around 24% mountainous.

If we can't inhabited that we aren't going to inhabit Mars.

No. We won't ever have a significant population on Mars. That isn't the point.

Not to mention all that's $$$ being spent could go toward feeding the hungry and housing the homeless.

That's me though.

The lack in regard to poverty and homelessness isn't money. It's political will. Take a small piece of the Defense budget and we can fund many more space missions *and* feed anyone who is hungry *and* build homes for the homeless. Or we could do infrastructure projects that would employ people and thereby give them the money to buy food and homes. All while sending probes to anywhere we could want.
 

We Never Know

No Slack
No. We won't ever have a significant population on Mars. That isn't the point.



The lack in regard to poverty and homelessness isn't money. It's political will. Take a small piece of the Defense budget and we can fund many more space missions *and* feed anyone who is hungry *and* build homes for the homeless. Or we could do infrastructure projects that would employ people and thereby give them the money to buy food and homes. All while sending probes to anywhere we could want.

"No. We won't ever have a significant population on Mars. That isn't the point."

What its the point?
To see if life once existed? To see if it was once like earth? To see what happened to it if it was?

We keep it up and we will have earth in the same shape of mars. Take care of and fix the problems with what we have.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
"No. We won't ever have a significant population on Mars. That isn't the point."

What its the point?
To see if life once existed? To see if it was once like earth? To see what happened to it if it was?

Yes. Yes. And Yes.

But *so* much more. Simply being curious about how the universe works. What all is out there and how do we fit in?

We keep it up and we will have earth in the same shape of mars. Take care of and fix the problems with what we have.

Unlikely to get that bad. We could easily kill ourselves off (and almost seem intent to do so). But we won't do any damage that a couple of million years won't fix. We won't do anything like the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs, for example (even all of our nukes won't do that much).
 

We Never Know

No Slack
Yes. Yes. And Yes.

But *so* much more. Simply being curious about how the universe works. What all is out there and how do we fit in?



Unlikely to get that bad. We could easily kill ourselves off (and almost seem intent to do so). But we won't do any damage that a couple of million years won't fix. We won't do anything like the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs, for example (even all of our nukes won't do that much).

I agree we will destroy ourselves before we destroy earth.
If life once existed on Mars something evidently happened to that time hasn't fixed.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
I agree we will destroy ourselves before we destroy earth.
If life once existed on Mars something evidently happened to that time hasn't fixed.

Well, whatever life was on Mars before was likely to be bacterial. And the lower gravity of Mars makes it harder to keep an atmosphere, which seems to be at least part of the problem Mars experienced.
 

We Never Know

No Slack
Well, whatever life was on Mars before was likely to be bacterial. And the lower gravity of Mars makes it harder to keep an atmosphere, which seems to be at least part of the problem Mars experienced.

Many have the thought time heels everything. I myself believe time destroys everything.
Take life, for example, given enough time everything dies(the life is destroyed). Nothing exists forever.
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
Our first powered flight on another planet happened this morning on Mars.

The Ingenuity helicopter lifted off, flew for about 40 seconds and touched down again.

We have photos of the shadow from the helicopter and of the flight from the Perseverance Rover.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...-helicopter-succeeds-in-historic-first-flight

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed its historic first flight - CNN

One aspect of this is that the atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 1% that of Earth, so developing lift is tricky.
Finally! I kept hearing this and that about the drone and was beginning to doubt. They're just cautious.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Our first powered flight on another planet happened this morning on Mars.

The Ingenuity helicopter lifted off, flew for about 40 seconds and touched down again.

We have photos of the shadow from the helicopter and of the flight from the Perseverance Rover.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...-helicopter-succeeds-in-historic-first-flight

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed its historic first flight - CNN

One aspect of this is that the atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 1% that of Earth, so developing lift is tricky.
Has there been any indication of the uses to which this can be put? I can see that a drone camera could have some uses in exploration, but it would need to have some range. I imagine this thing, while solar powered, needs to charge up a battery as it will expend energy a lot faster than it collects it from the sun when it is in operation. So can it fly a useful distance/time for aerial reconnaissance? Or are other functions contemplated?

Or is it just another NASA publicity gimmick? Sometimes I get the queasy feeling NASA increasingly resembles a solution in search of a problem. This proposed manned moon mission is a case in point, the objective of which seems to be simply to get the first woman and the first black person to the moon.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
Has there been any indication of the uses to which this can be put? I can see that a drone camera could have some uses in exploration, but it would need to have some range. I imagine this thing, while solar powered, needs to charge up a battery as it will expend energy a lot faster than it collects it from the sun when it is in operation. So can it fly a useful distance/time for aerial reconnaissance? Or are other functions contemplated?

Ingenuity is mostly a proof of concept. Yes, it needs to charge much longer than it flies, and it is being put through its initial testing, but the goal is to be able to do longer distance reconnaissance to map out where the rover goes.

If it is successful, larger versions are likely to be on later missions.

Or is it just another NASA publicity gimmick? Sometimes I get the queasy feeling NASA increasingly resembles a solution in search of a problem. This proposed manned moon mission is a case in point, the objective of which seems to be simply to get the first woman and the first black person to the moon.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Ingenuity is mostly a proof of concept. Yes, it needs to charge much longer than it flies, and it is being put through its initial testing, but the goal is to be able to do longer distance reconnaissance to map out where the rover goes.

If it is successful, larger versions are likely to be on later missions.
OK that's fair enough, seeing as cameras are so light nowadays.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
Finally! I kept hearing this and that about the drone and was beginning to doubt. They're just cautious.

Not easy to do repairs at that distance. So, yes, very cautious. The initial flight was delayed because of a software bug on the first spin up.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
What its the point?

Some hear this and are inspired. Some hear this and go 'meh':

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before!
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
Everybody wants to save the humans and therefore the Earth. Every development goes towards that in some way, including those intended to harm. Nukes, explosives, biowarfware et all, we turn all of these eventually to our benefit. Space exploration helps with that. It helps turn useless war technology into Earth technology.

I am all for saving the humans and therefore saving the Earth for our sakes, and to a lesser extent I'm interested in many other things such as preserving biodiversity and making animals suffer less. And space exploration.

So far space exploration has helped to turn the misfortunes of war into progress for the Earth, like honey from the bee. Even the evil military-industrial complex together with the space race has brought us usable solar panel technology and computing. This, in turn, has spurred a race to find the best batteries which is happening here on Earth. The hopeful goal is to save the Earth.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Everybody wants to save the humans and therefore the Earth. Every development goes towards that in some way, including those intended to harm. Nukes, explosives, biowarfware et all, we turn all of these eventually to our benefit. Space exploration helps with that. It helps turn useless war technology into Earth technology.

I am all for saving the humans and therefore saving the Earth for our sakes, and to a lesser extent I'm interested in many other things such as preserving biodiversity and making animals suffer less. And space exploration.

So far space exploration has helped to turn the misfortunes of war into progress for the Earth, like honey from the bee. Even the evil military-industrial complex together with the space race has brought us usable solar panel technology and computing. This, in turn, has spurred a race to find the best batteries which is happening here on Earth. The hopeful goal is to save the Earth.

Every time this comes up, there is a host of new tech that comes from space exploration and war. Or as recent history illustrates: disease.
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Saw that this morning. While its kind of cool, Its not impressing to me.

On earth about 57% of land is considered uninhabitable. That's around 33% desert and around 24% mountainous.

If we can't inhabited that we aren't going to inhabit Mars.

Not to mention all that's $$$ being spent could go toward feeding the hungry and housing the homeless.

That's me though.
I think we don't need to give up science and discovery to help the needy here on earth. Just cutting our military budget by half should feed and house the whole world, or at the least in our own country, without needing to sacrifice the scientific pursuits of human knowledge in order to so.

But America does love its guns, so there is that.....
 

We Never Know

No Slack
I think we don't need to give up science and discovery to help the needy here on earth. Just cutting our military budget by half should feed and house the whole world, or at the least in our own country, without needing to sacrifice the scientific pursuits of human knowledge in order to so.

But America does love its guns, so there is that.....
How many countries have a military without guns?
 
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