A small flight for man
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As if immersed in a video game where you can control a simulator of any vehicle, April 19, 2021 will be remembered as the first day in which an aircraft flew over the ground of another planet.
Parodying the words of Neil Armstrong "A small flight for man but a giant leap for mankind".
Technology has joined human creativity to initiate a new path towards the exploration of other stars, not only from satellites around their orbits or from vehicles on the surface, but with devices that can travel at low altitudes and cover more distances in less time.
This may in the future create accurate maps of unexplored spaces and give us a clearer view of what was previously known from farther distances and with less precision.
The "Ingenuity", a drone with a helicopter design, measures 0.80 centimeters in height and its propellers measure 110 centimeters, spinning at revolutions per minute between 1900 and 2800.
It reminds us of those remote control helicopters that were part of our childhood games.
Its body is shaped like a box or trunk, and its energy is provided by six lithium-ion batteries that are charged by a solar array placed on top of the rotor.
It has flexible legs that provide a soft landing, two cameras, one in black and white for navigation and one in color to take images of the terrain.
Its weight on Earth is 1.8 kilograms but in the Martian atmosphere it weighs only 680 grams.
Since radio images take minutes to travel through space and reach earth, the spacecraft flies autonomously thanks to a 4-core Cpu with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, a Gpu and a 55-megapixel image processor.
Its initial flight was just 40 seconds, rising 3 meters and making some turns and displacements, something that may seem simple but thanks to the thinness of the Martian atmosphere, the propellers have a hard time taking air to lift the apparatus.
Victory is still in its infancy, the successes in the space race are small in relation to the challenge but all these technological advances end up impacting over the years on the human way of life here on earth.
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Greetings @joseph1956, very certainly every day more technology accompanied by man make progress for the development of humanity, these satisfactory results of this drone make us think that in a short time we will have more accurate news about life on other planets.
Thank you for sharing this information.
Hello friend @joseph1956 I certainly consider that these are just the first steps for all that is yet to be discovered, I wonder what kind of changes it will bring for us on earth? I think it is time for people to stop thinking that we are the centre of the universe when we are just a particle of space dust, the human being has been very vain in that sense to believe that everything we have on this planet is what exists. But there are people whose curiosity and ingenuity comes to awaken our conscience.
This is great, very soon we'll be considering carrying out pressurized research. Thanks for sharing
Hello friend @joseph1956
It is true what you say, "Technology has joined human creativity to start a new path towards the exploration of other stars, not only from satellites around their orbits or from vehicles on the surface, but with devices that can travel at low altitudes and cover more distances in less time", however, it is necessary before undertaking any exploration into the unknown, first solve the problems that we have generated to our ecosystems already explored and destroyed.
Best regards, be well.
that is the eternal paradox that is simplified with a saying that my grandmother used to use a lot: "Light for the street, dark for the house".
It is very impressive that they have made a helicopter that weighs so little. The truth is very amazing what human beings are capable of achieving with a little inventiveness and teamwork.
I think we are not far from seeing a future full of portable cars like those seen in an animated series (I think they were the jetsons, I don't remember) in which the vehicle was transformed into a portable briefcase to take it to work
I loved that series and if you analyze it, many of the things that appear there already exist, such as the microwave and the possibility of video calls.
It is true, there are many things that already exist!
Could it be that the inventors have taken inspiration from these series?
It seems to me that they have copied models from great films and productions.
It has certainly been a small flight, but it has shown great things, first of all that it is possible that an aircraft of this type can fly in the thin atmosphere of Mars, hopefully with its subsequent scheduled flights can fly and go further, something that would help a lot to the mission of the rover on the surface and that would guide us to a new stage of exploration of other planets.
I really am one of those nostalgic people who hope that more attention will be paid to the moon, but the frontiers are getting smaller.