NASA Ingenuity Helicopter Provides Vital Data on Martian Dust Dynamics for Future Missions With Mars 2020 Rover and Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The fact cannot be ignored that Mars is facing a significant issue with dust. The planet's surface is covered in tiny particles made of silica and oxidized minerals. In the southern hemisphere, massive dust storms occur during summer and can spread to cover the entire planet. Dust devils and dusty skies are also a constant concern throughout the year.

These dust conditions have led to the downfall of robotic explorers that use solar panels for energy, such as NASA's Opportunity rover and InSight lander, ending their operations in 2018 and 2022, respectively. The Ingenuity helicopter, which has been exploring Mars alongside the NASA Perseverance rover since 2021, has also faced difficulties with the Martian dust.

However, the dust it has disturbed has provided valuable information that could benefit future rotorcraft missions to other extraterrestrial locations. With support from NASA, a research team has conducted the first actual study of Martian dust behavior, which will aid in future missions to Mars and Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in the coming years.

The study was conducted under the leadership of Mark T. Lemmon, a senior research scientist at the Center for Mars Science at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. He worked with researchers from various institutions, including the Stevens Institute of Technology, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Aeolis Research, Cornell University, Arizona State University, the Centro de Astrobiologia, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Ingenuity's Flight Findings

The results of their analysis were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. Conducting a study on dust behavior on another planet is challenging due to the vast distances and communication lag involved. Hence, researchers utilize Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to simulate the behavior of dust in extraterrestrial environments based on local conditions. Jason Rabinovitch, an assistant professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology and a co-author of the study, stated that landing a helicopter on a helipad is preferable because landing in the desert, like on Mars, can cause dust to be stirred up, leading to a "brownout" with zero visibility.

In space, obtaining data is difficult due to the limited ability to send images and videos back to Earth, so researchers have to work with what they have. The Rabinovitch Research Group at Stevens focuses on the interactions between plumes and surfaces during spacecraft descent and modeling related phenomena such as supersonic parachute inflation and geophysical features like "yardangs."

Rabinovitch has collaborated with NASA JPL and the Ingenuity program since 2014, creating the first theoretical models of dust disturbed by helicopters on Mars. For their study, Rabinovich and his team utilized advanced image processing techniques to gather information from the low-quality videos captured by Perseverance during Ingenuity's six helicopter flights. They analyzed minute differences in video frames and pixel light intensity to determine the size and mass of the dust clouds caused by the helicopter during takeoff, hovering, and landing. The findings were consistent with the models created by Rabinovich and his colleagues in 2014.

Understanding Mars Dust Storms

The researchers estimate that each time Ingenuity flew, it generated dust equivalent to roughly one-thousandth of its mass (1.8 kg or 4 lbs). This amount of dust is much greater than what a rotorcraft of similar size would produce on Earth due to Mars's weaker gravity (approximately 40% of Earth's) and its atmosphere having less than 0.5% pressure. However, the team is cautious about making direct comparisons due to remaining uncertainties.

Rabinovich emphasized that multiple factors must be considered when studying dust on Mars, including the lower gravity and effects of air pressure, temperature, and air density. Despite the many unknowns, he finds the research to be intriguing. Lemmon also commented that the Mastcam-Z video captured by Perseverance for engineering purposes was valuable for the research, as it showed Ingenuity stirring up a significant amount of dust from the Martian surface, opening up new avenues of exploration.

This research can help improve the understanding of dust storms on Mars, which is important for NASA's future missions that depend on solar power. It could also assist with the landing techniques for sensitive equipment, such as the Mars Sample Return mission by NASA and ESA. Additionally, the research could shed light on the impact of dust storms on meteorological events shared by Earth and Mars. The findings will also be useful for mission planners working on the Dragonfly mission, a nuclear-powered quadcopter to launch to Titan (Saturn's largest moon) in 2027. Studies like this one will be critical for future missions to celestial bodies with atmospheres, wind erosion, and surface particulate matter.

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