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   AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 00:43:07 JST AkaSci 🛰️

   Not a good day for space missions 😞

   During a short up and down Flight 72, Mars helicopter Ingenuity lost its comm link with rover Perseverance. NASA engineers are working on restoring it.

   This follows Flight 71 on Jan 6 which made an emergency landing 35 seconds into a 125 sec flight; apparently the relatively featureless sandy terrain proved difficult for its navigation system.

   Meanwhile, Voyager 1 is still sending garbled data.

   Stay tuned.

   https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/status/508/flight-72-status-update/
   1/n

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     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 00:43:07 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     Mars helicopter Ingenuity communicates with rover Perseverance using the ultra-low-power Zibgee protocol standard over a 914 MHz link.

     Data rate: up to 250 kbps
     Range: up to 1 km
     Antenna: Monopole, omni-directional, 7.3 cm tall, 1 mm thick, gold-plated stainless steel
     Telecom subsystem mass < 14 g, incl. cables and antenna
     Electronics: Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) radio and processor elements, not radiation hardened!

     https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341504369_The_Mars_Helicopter_Telecommunication_Link_Antennas_Propagation_and_Link_Analysis
     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zigbee
     #Mars #Ingenuity
     2/n

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     Michael Gemar (michaelgemar@mstdn.ca)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:25 JST Michael Gemar

     in reply to

     @AkaSci That’s not great news. However, Ingenuity has done vastly more than its original mission, and it’s hard to imagine any future surface mission to *any* body with an atmosphere not including a copter of some kind.

     It’s perhaps the biggest bang for buck vehicle in planetary science.

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     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:26 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     Good news from JPL - the Mars helicopter team managed to reestablish contact with Ingenuity after its comm loss since the middle of Flight 72. The team is reviewing data to better understand the root cause of the comm outage.

     This was accomplished by "instructing Mars rover Perseverance to perform long-duration listening sessions for Ingenuity’s signal."

     Let's take a look at what that means.

     #Mars #Ingenuity
     3/n

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     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:28 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     Ingenuity and Perseverance turn on their comm systems and talk during certain pre-determined periods of the day (e.g., at the top of the hour), to conserve power. Ingenuity initiates the call.

     For this to work, both systems need to have "wall-clocks" (i.e., the date/time counter) whose values match closely.

     Since Ingenuity's clock got reset and restarted due to the low power condition, the times when Ingenuity and Perseverance attempted to communicate with each other no longer matched.

     5/n

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     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:29 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     This incident sounds very similar to a comm. outage that occurred in May 2022.

     Then, increased atmospheric dust caused a reduction in solar panel output. One night, battery capacity fell low enough that a controller chip was automatically powered off as a safety measure.

     Consequently, Ingenuity's time-of-day clock get reset.

     That led to a failure to communicate with Perseverance, when power levels came back to normal.

     Why?

     https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/status/379/nasas-ingenuity-in-contact-with-perseverance-rover-after-communications-dropout/
     4/n

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     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:31 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     The solution to this problem caused by unsynchronized clocks is obvious - configure Perseverance to keeps its comm. system continuously turned on for a few hours!

     That's what they did on May 5, 2022. A few hours later, Percy received Ingenuity's call, exchanged status info. and promptly set Ingenuity's clock to the correct value.

     This is what JPL must have done today - "instructing Perseverance to perform long-duration listening sessions for Ingenuity’s signal."

     I doubt they use NTP 🕰️

     6/n

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     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:34 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     FYI - the Ingenuity team did not know in May 2022 that time-sync loss was the problem and not something more catastrophic, but they had anticipated such events and had a bag of solutions to try.

     Also, part of the solution to the May 2022 problem was to lower Ingenuity's thermostat at night, so that the heating system consumed less power and the electronics could stay up (in low power mode) all night. The thermostat setting was restored once solar insolation levels rose to normal levels.

     7/n

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     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:34 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     Mars Helicopter Ingenuity was just a 30-day technology demonstration mission to test powered, controlled flight on another world.

     Ingenuity completed its tech demo phase after the 3rd flight on April 25, 2021. After another 2 flights, it transitioned to a new operations demonstration phase.

     Almost 3 years later, Ingenuity has completed 72 flights and is still going strong in support of the overall mission.

     Overachiever much?
     👏

     https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/#Flight-Log
     #Ingenuity #Mars
     8/n

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   • Embed this notice
     Michael Gemar (michaelgemar@mstdn.ca)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:37 JST Michael Gemar

     in reply to

     @AkaSci This is a *really* informative thread — thanks!

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     Nicholas Weaver (ncweaver@thecooltable.wtf)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:41 JST Nicholas Weaver

     in reply to

     @AkaSci
     Typical JPL engineering:
     "We are building it for an X day mission"
     Day X * 5:
     "God, when will this thing die?"

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     Mark Delany (markd@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 20:29:44 JST Mark Delany

     in reply to

     Everyone should follow @AkaSci

     The insights into space exploration, with details that us more technical folk enjoy, is fantastic. The latest example being updates about comms issues with the Mars helicopter, Ingenuity.

     The factoid that Ingenuity uses off-the-shelf Zigbee to talk to the rover is the sort of technical insight that you don't get anywhere else.

     Three thumbs up, or however many you're meant to raise.

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     Mat Bradshaw (twoclownseating@ravenation.club)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 10:55:38 JST Mat Bradshaw

     in reply to

     • 65dBnoise

     @AkaSci @65dBnoise

     Last image sent from Ingenuity here

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     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 10:55:39 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     • 65dBnoise

     Sad news - Mars helicopter Ingenuity suffered some rotor damage during flight 72 on Jan 18 and its mission has now ended.

     It will fly no more although its instruments and comm. systems are operational (the image below was sent on Jan 23).

     Ingenuity gave new meaning to the word overachiever. It's legacy will live on in all future missions with helicopters.

     It's possible that the damage started in flight 71, as reported by @65dBnoise .

     https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends
     #Ingenuity #Mars
     9/n

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     aburka 🫣 (aburka@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jan-2024 10:55:49 JST aburka 🫣

     in reply to

     @AkaSci it could be the same thing this time... but the latest dropout started *during* a flight. If the battery hit the critical "enter low-power mode NOW" level while above the ground it may not be in a 100% flyable state anymore :/

     [source: am drone engineer on Earth, have accidentally cut motor power in flight before and observed the effects]

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