by Ryan Whitwam
瑞安·惠特瓦姆(Ryan Whitwam)
NASA’s Perseverance rover is on its way to the red planet following a successful launch and a small glitch with the rover’s software. The new explorer robot has a lot in common with Curiosity but adds more cameras, stronger wheels, and its very own helicopter. NASA has now confirmed that the helicopter, known as Ingenuity, is still in good shape following the launch.
在成功发射并且漫游者的软件出现小故障之后，NASA的恒心漫游者正朝着红色星球前进。 新型的探索者机器人与“好奇号”有很多共同之处，但增加了更多的摄像头，更坚固的车轮和自己的直升机。 NASA现在已经确认，这架名为Ingenuity的直升机在发射后仍处于良好状态 。
Once Perseverance reaches Mars, NASA JPL hopes to make Ingenuity the first flying robot on another planet. First, it has to get there with all systems operational. Starting on August 7, NASA powered up the helicopter, which is currently mounted to the underside of the car-sized rover. Ingenuity successfully pulled power from the rover’s systems to charge its batteries, allowing NASA to verify its electronics were working correctly.
恒心号到达火星后，NASA JPL希望使Ingenuity成为另一个星球上的第一个飞行机器人。 首先，它必须使所有系统正常运行。 从8月7日开始，美国国家航空航天局(NASA)为这架直升飞机提供了动力，该直升飞机目前安装在该汽车大小的流动站的下方。 独创性成功地从流动站的系统中提取了动力，为其电池充电，从而使NASA能够验证其电子设备是否正常工作。
It took about eight hours to charge the batteries, but NASA only filled them to 35 percent. That was enough to run diagnostics on the helicopter without negatively impacting the longevity of the cells. After all, no one is going to be nearby to swap them out, and NASA would probably prefer to have a working helicopter on Mars for as long as possible even if it’s not essential to the mission.
给电池充电大约需要8个小时，但NASA只能将其充满35％。 这足以在直升机上进行诊断，而不会负面影响细胞的寿命。 毕竟，没有人会在附近将它们调换出去，而且即使对于执行任务不是必不可少的，NASA还是希望在火星上拥有尽可能长的工作直升机。
Ingenuity is could be helpful to Perseverance, but the team is more interested in learning how a helicopter drone behaves on Mars. The drone will be able to lift off, capture photos of the terrain, and then set down. After each flight, it will communicate wirelessly with Perseverance to transmit its data. It won’t need to reconnect to Perseverance to recharge on Mars — that’s just for testing the systems during the trip. On the planet, Ingenuity will use its small solar panel array to refill the battery.
独创性可能会有助于毅力，但团队对学习直升机无人机在火星上的行为更感兴趣。 无人机将能够升空，捕获地形照片，然后放下。 每次飞行后，它将与恒心无线通信以传输其数据。 它不需要重新连接到毅力就可以在火星上充电-只是在旅途中测试系统。 在这个星球上，Ingenuity将使用其小型太阳能电池板阵列为电池补充电量。
NASA has done its homework to give Ingenuity the best possible chance of success. It weighs just 1.8 kilograms (about 4 pounds on Earth) and the 3.9-foot (1.2-meter) rotor should provide enough lift based on ground testing. Mars has a thinner atmosphere with lower gravity. The team estimates Ingenuity will be able to reach about 10 meters high and cover 300 meters per flight. It has autonomous capabilities, but the first few flights will be carefully scripted by controllers at NASA JPL.
NASA已尽其所能，为Ingenuity提供了最大的成功机会。 它仅重1.8千克(地球上约4磅)，而3.9英尺(1.2米)的转子应根据地面测试提供足够的升力。 火星大气层稀薄，重力较低。 该团队估计，Ingenuity能够达到约10米高，每次飞行覆盖300米。 它具有自主功能，但是前几次飞行将由NASA JPL的管制员精心编写。
This is still just a technology demonstration as far as NASA is concerned. Even if Ingenuity falls out of the sky, the Perseverance mission will continue normally. However, a successful trial for Ingenuity could lead to missions that explore the planet entirely from the air. As we know from numerous robotic missions, driving across the Martian surface is difficult and damaging for rovers.
就NASA而言，这仍然只是技术演示。 即使独创性从天而降，毅力任务也将继续正常进行。 但是，成功进行“聪明才智”试验可能会导致任务完全从空中探索地球。 从无数次机器人飞行任务中我们知道，在火星表面上行驶非常困难，并且对漫游者造成伤害。
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Originally published at https://www.extremetech.com on August 18, 2020.
最初于 2020年8月18日 在 https://www.extremetech.com 上 发布 。
翻译自: https://medium.com/extremetech-access/nasas-mars-helicopter-powers-up-in-space-84651dbbc6ec
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