10 HN users recommended this explainer4 months2020–2021score 4.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN repeatedly recommends it as an excellent explanation of why flying on Mars is hard and how the helicopter was built.
Veritasium's Derek Muller visits NASA JPL to see the Mars helicopter Ingenuity before it was mounted on the rover. He explains how it can fly in Mars's thin atmosphere with large, fast-spinning contra-rotating rotors and low mass, and covers power and cold.
“a really excellent video that answers all your questions” (HN, 2021)
Here's a really excellent video that answers all your questions: [this video] TL;DW: Martian atmosphere is so sparse that it's equivalent to flying at 100,000 feet on Earth. (The altitude record on Earth is 85,000 feet, set by the SR-71.) In order to fly at all the blades have to spin at nearly the (Martian) speed of sound. The drone wouldn't fly on Earth because the atmosphere is so dense that the blades would never make it up to speed.
Explains why thin Martian air makes the helicopter hard to fly.
Totally agree. It's obviously a high risk portion of the mission but I'm glad someone had the guts to propose it. Derek from Veritasium did a nice little story on it last summer - [this video]
Veritasium did an episode 'Mars Helicopter' containing some interesting discussions with the team that built it. [this video] nm it was already linked elsewhere
Discussions with the team that built the helicopter.
It's not just atmosphere and g-forces. The cold temperatures mean the helicopter spends 2/3 of its battery power keeping the batteries and electronics from freezing. Good rundown of how it was built: [this video]
Veritasium has a great video on the helicopter. Early on in the video they explain that Mars’ atmosphere is equivalent in density to Earth’s atmosphere at 100,000 feet, and the record altitude for helicopters on earth is 40,000 feet. [this video]
Explains Mars atmosphere density and helicopter altitude challenges.
On top of what others have said, we need advancement it batteries that can withstand low temperatures. Lithium ion batteries generally need to be kept above freezing temps. There have been some advances in capacitors that operate down to -100C, but their energy density makes them a non-ideal option for weight limited applications. This video from Veritasium does a good job of covering the helicopter power system: [this video]
Covers the helicopter power system and cold batteries.
Video from Veritasium about the helicopter that talk with the team about this. He mentions that 2/3rds of the daily energy gathered is used for the purpose[1] Other information about the tech; camera & landing, energy use for heating, flight in low pressure atmosphere, the system to actually land the thing, is also really interesting. [this video]
Team discusses heating energy use, landing, and low-pressure flight.
This video [this video] explains it: they can change the attack angle of rotor blades for different positions, which produces a torque, though you have to compensate for the gyroscopic effect, which lags behind. Humans cannot fly this, but computers can. The video also explains why the chose two contra-rotating rotors instead of a quad-copter design.
Explains rotor control and the counter-rotating rotor design.
Saw this Veritasium youtube video a year ago and the technical complexity required to fly on Mars was shocking to me. Since the air density is super low the blades need to spin at a speed which nears the speed of sound at the blade tips. Crossing the speed of sound causes mini sonic booms which could disrupt the flight entirely. Kudos to NASA scientists for this technological breakthrough! Sharing the video: [this video]
Technical complexity of flying in Mars's thin air.
I’ll bet they worked with my friend who is the Deputy Surface Mission Manager for the rover. He gave us a little presentation of what he worked on, including the little helicopter that is attached to the underside of the rover. Veritasium did a cool video about it a couple years ago. [1] Kudos to everyone who worked on the project and got it launched during the pandemic! [1] [this video]
They briefly talk about it in this Veritasium Video at around the 9 minute mark [this video] He says, unlike in the movies, it is not really an issue. With 1% earth’s atmosphere there is very little matter actually hitting you.
Brief discussion of thin Mars atmosphere around the nine minute mark.
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