NASA Continues Mars Helicopter Experiments, Tests New Design on Earth

2023 · VOA Learning English

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Transcript

1. As the American space agency NASA continues to carry out tests of its Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, it is also testing a future

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2. aircraft design on Earth. NASA’s Ingenuity has been making test flights on the Red Planet for the past two-and-a-half years.

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3. The experimental helicopter arrived on Mars along with NASA’s Perseverance explorer, or rover, in February 2021.

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4. Both the rover and helicopter have been collecting images and data as they explore an area known as Jezero Crater.

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5. The goal of the exploration effort is to search for signs of ancient life on Mars.

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6. Agency engineers planned on Ingenuity completing just five experimental flights on Mars. But the helicopter has so far performed 66 flights.

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7. It has provided NASA with valuable data on building future aircraft to fly in space.

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8. Travis Brown is Ingenuity’s chief engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.

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9. He said in a statement that with nearly every flight, the helicopter has progressed in new ways.

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10. Brown noted that over the past nine months, Ingenuity had doubled its top speed and height records.

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11. In addition, the aircraft’s operating speed and landings improved. Most Ingenuity flights only last two to three minutes.

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12. This is because the helicopter has energy and temperature limitations.

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13. NASA engineers say they have also been careful not to try to fly Ingenuity too fast because this can cause problems with its navigation system.

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14. The helicopter uses a camera to identify rocks and other things on the surface as it travels.

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15. If the aircraft goes too fast, it might not be able to navigate the best way forward.

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16. Controllers on the ground have said that to help with this issue, they have sent commands to Ingenuity to fly at higher levels.

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17. This way the aircraft has less chance of losing its way because surface objects stay in view longer.

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18. NASA says Ingenuity established a new height record, on flight 61, of 24 meters as it examined Martian wind conditions.

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19. On flight 62, the helicopter set a new speed record of 10 meters per second.

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20. During this flight Ingenuity also identified a new place for the Perseverance rover to carry out science experiments.

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21. These could be used in the future with a new generation of Mars helicopters.

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22. During the tests, engineers reported the rotor blades had reached speeds nearly equal to Mach 1, the speed of sound.

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23. The blades tested on Earth are made of carbon material and are more than 10 centimeters longer than Ingenuity’s.

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24. The blades were designed to be both faster and stronger. NASA has said such rotor blades should be able to support bigger, more complex helicopters.

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25. The team said in a statement the helicopter design must reach the right balance.

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26. If the blades spin too fast, this causes control issues that can increase the risk of crashes.

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27. The Earth-based tests were carried out in September inside a space simulator at NASA’s JPL.

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28. For these experiments, the simulator aimed to establish a Mars-like environment.

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29. The team was measuring tests of the rotor blades with sensors, cameras and other equipment.

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30. Many different speeds were tested and the blades were repeatedly repositioned to observe the best results.

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31. “We spun our blades up to 3,500 rpm, which is 750 revolutions per minute faster than the Ingenuity blades have gone,” said

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32. Tyler Del Sesto, a leader of the JPL testing. “These more efficient blades are now more than a hypothetical exercise.

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33. They are ready to fly,” he added. I’m Bryan Lynn.

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