Page 60 - Life beyond the Karman

The rover also carried the mini-helicopter, Ingenuity, to Mars, an experimental aircraft and technology testbed that made the first powered flight on another planet on 19 April 2021.
Its goals include identifying ancient Martian environments capable of supporting life, seeking evidence of former microbial life in those environments, collecting regolith rock and soil samples to store on the Martian surface, and testing oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere to prepare for future crewed missions.
Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity
The Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, is a technology demonstration to test powered, controlled flight on another world for the first time. It hitched a ride to Mars on the Perseverance Rover. Once the rover reached a suitable “airfield” location, it released Ingenuity to the surface so it could perform a series of test flights over a 30-Martian-day experimental window.
The helicopter completed its technology demonstration after three successful flights. For the first flight, Ingenuity took off, climbed to about 10 feet (3 metres) above the ground, hovered in the air briefly, completed a turn, and landed.
This was a major milestone as it was the first powered, controlled flight in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars, and in fact, the first such flight in any world beyond Earth. After that, the helicopter successfully performed additional experimental flights of incrementally farther distance and greater altitude.
With its tech demo complete, Ingenuity has moved to a new operations demonstration phase to explore how future rovers and aerial explorers can work together.
Pragyan Rover
The Pragyan Rover is a six-wheeled robotic vehicle that travels up to 500 m leveraging solar energy. As part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, it was deployed to conduct scientific experiments on the lunar surface. The Pragyan Rover was powered by an artificial intelligence system and could communicate with the Lander.
By lunar nightfall, the Pragyan Rover had travelled 331 feet (101 metres) on the moon’s surface. It detected sulfur, rerouted
to avoid a dangerous crater, and collected samples from 7-8 locations. According to multiple sources, Pragyan and its lander, Vikram did not survive the extreme cold temperature on the Moon’s surface. However, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) responded that the propulsion module that was still operational departed from the lunar orbit and returned to a high Earth orbit to conduct further scientific observations of the Earth.
Gemini
The primary objective of the Gemini program was to evaluate the ability of astronauts to manually control their spacecraft.
The program was created to test equipment and mission procedures in Earth orbit, and to train astronauts and ground crews for future Apollo missions, serving as a bridge between the Mercury and Apollo programs.
Directed by NASA, the Gemini series played a crucial role in developing the techniques required for orbital rendezvous and docking with a target vehicle. These procedures were essential for the subsequent Apollo Moon landing program. In addition, the program allowed NASA engineers to enhance the environmental control and electrical power systems of spacecraft.
Gemini 1 was an uncrewed orbital test of the Titan 2 launch vehicle. Gemini 12 was the final crewed flight of the Gemini series, which served as a bridge between the Mercury and Apollo programs.
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LIFE BEYOND THE KÁRMÁN LINE - OUTER SPACE