Ingenuity: Navigation and Control

摘要

Ingenuity is a small autonomous helicopter currently operating on the surface of Mars. After two decades of academic interest in Martian atmospheric flight and preliminary development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Ingenuity project was conceived as a NASA technology demonstration mission. Its purpose is to explore both the feasibility and the scientific potential of rotorcraft on Mars. The Martian environment presents unique challenges to rotorcraft.The thin Martian atmosphere, with a density 1 of Earth's, drastically reduces aerodynamic lift forces. The ability to compensate for the reduced lift with higher rotor speeds is limited by the speed-of-sound which is about 25 lower than on Earth. Although the 65 reduction in gravity, compared to Earth, provides a modest offset to the density reduction, it also complicates Earth-based emulation of the Martian environment for testing. Lastly, the one-way communication delay, typically 10 to 15 minutes, necessitates a high-level of vehicle autonomy. Nevertheless, the Ingenuity helicopter has demonstrated that Martian flight is possible.