One of Ingenuity’s navigation sensors is failing. And while that’s a big problem, the team hopes to get the helicopter up and running again with a software update.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity has already exceeded many expectations. But now that winter has arrived on the red planet and the helicopter is exposed to lower temperatures, it is not surprising that the helicopter is starting to get ailments. According to NASA, Ingenuity is currently facing a serious technical problem. Yet all hope is not lost yet.

Broken

Over the past few days, the team has been busy preparing for Ingenuity’s 29th flight. But while checking all of its systems and instruments, the team found that one of Ingenuity’s navigation sensors, the so-called inclinometer, has stopped working. A malfunctioning navigation sensor may sound like a big problem — and it is — but it doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the grueling mission, NASA claims.

inclinometer

When Ingenuity flies, the control system closely monitors the current position, speed and orientation of the helicopter. It does this using the Inertial Measurement Unit (in short IMU, which makes a reasonable estimate of the position, speed and height of the helicopter) and the navigation camera. The data from these sensors is processed by a series of algorithms implemented on Ingenuity’s navigation computer. Before the helicopter takes off, these algorithms are initialized using the inclinometer.

A new way

The inclinometer consists of two accelerometers. The purpose of the inclinometer is to measure gravity just before the helicopter takes to the skies. This data is then used to determine how Ingenuity is oriented. “We don’t use the inclinometer during the flight itself,” NASA writes. “But without this meter, we are forced to find a new way to initialize the navigation algorithms before takeoff.”

IMU

Fortunately, the helicopter is equipped with multiple accelerometers. Because the aforementioned IMU also contains accelerometers with which an estimate can be made of Ingenuity’s starting position. Since the IMU is not specifically designed for this alone, its estimates are likely to be somewhat less accurate overall. “However, we believe that an IMU-based estimate of initial attitude will allow us to take off safely,” NASA writes. “So it offers an acceptable alternative that will allow Ingenuity to resume its flights.”

software update

In short, the Ingenuity team plans to have another sensor take over from the broken inclinometer. However, this requires a software update. And it has been on the shelf for a while now. “In anticipation of this situation, we have already prepared the required software changes before the arrival on Mars last year,” NASA said. “We can therefore act quickly. The update is already underway.”

29th flight

If all goes well, the team expects to complete the software update in the next few Mars days. And then the exciting 29th flight of Ingenuity can still start. It’s quite a milestone. Originally, the Mars helicopter had ‘one to five flights’ on the schedule. But now we are a year and almost thirty flights further. This underlines the unparalleled success of the plucky helicopter that continues to amaze time and again.

Still, the question is how long Ingenuity will continue to function. Now that the Martian winter has started, conditions are becoming more and more challenging. It remains to be seen how the helicopter, which is designed to fly during the much warmer spring days, will react to this. For example, extreme temperature fluctuations between day and night can lead to more defective parts. In addition, NASA lost contact with the air explorer for a while in early May when dust settled on Ingenuity’s solar panels, preventing it from properly charging its batteries. In the coming period, the dust in the atmosphere will only increase. And that, combined with lower daytime temperatures and shorter days, will have an increasing impact on Ingenuity’s energy supply. Still, the team hopes that the helicopter will last for a while and that it will regularly enter Martian airspace at least until September.