Scientists are terrified of the situation of the US Mars helicopter

Although Mars also has an atmosphere, the density of Mars' atmosphere is very low, only about 1% of that of Earth, which means that the air on Mars is very thin, and we can't breathe if we stand directly on the surface of Mars. It is also because the atmospheric density of Mars is very low that it is more difficult for those rotorcraft to take off on the surface of Mars. Not only the take-off weight of the rotorcraft will be limited, but also the rotational speed of the rotor is very high.

Wit is the world's first helicopter to fly on Mars, arriving on the surface of Mars with the Perseverance rover in February 2021, and completing its maiden flight on April 19, 2021. This is a small double-propeller helicopter. The weight of the whole aircraft is about 1.8 kg. The length of the rotor reaches 1.2 meters. The fastest speed of the rotor is as high as 2400 rpm, which is much faster than that of a helicopter flying on the earth.

Since humans have never deployed similar vehicles on Mars before, scientists do not know what difficulties these rotorcraft will encounter when flying on Mars, and the designed lifespan is not very long. According to the original idea, the helicopter may crash or end the mission after completing several test missions in a Martian month, but in the end, the helicopter showed in actual actions that its flight capability exceeded It is expected that the operation time has exceeded 1 year and the number of flights has reached 28. However, now this helicopter seems to have encountered some problems, what is going on?

U.S. Mars Helicopter Situation

The communication between the Witness helicopter and the Perseverance rover was interrupted, and it successfully established contact with the rover after two or three days. The statement issued by NASA said that the Witness helicopter entered a low-power state with insufficient energy, which is a major challenge for the Witness helicopter, and scientists fear that the tragedy of years ago may occur again.

It turned out that the source of energy for the Witness helicopter is solar panel power generation. The distance between Mars and the sun is farther away, which means that the solar radiation hitting the surface of Mars is relatively weak. In addition, there are also seasonal dust storms on Mars. The overwhelming dust storm blocked the sun, and some of the dust may have fallen directly on the rotor of the helicopter. All of these conditions will greatly reduce the power generation efficiency of the solar panels of the Witness helicopter.

This situation spooked some scientists. You must know that the environment of Mars is not as beautiful as imagined. Not only is the air thin, but the temperature is also very low. The energy of these Mars rovers not only needs to meet the normal operation of these devices, but also needs a certain amount of energy to survive the cold season. . If the energy is insufficient, these Mars rovers may be "frozen" and unable to wake up again.

So, to extend the Witness helicopter's mission, NASA staff are sending commands to Witness to adjust the way it handles the heater so it can maintain heat at night. If the Witness Mars Helicopter can survive the cold nights and recover from the Martian dust, it will continue to complete a series of missions.

Mars rover engulfed by Martian dust storm

Friends who know more about Mars rovers, it is estimated that not many people do not know that there is a Mars rover that has been running on the surface of Mars for more than ten years, that is, the Opportunity Mars rover. The Spirit rover went to Mars with the Opportunity rover. The design life of the two Mars rover is only 90 Martian days, which is only about 3 months, but the actual operating time of both of them is the same. far exceeded expectations. The Spirit rover, which landed on Mars on January 4, 2004, ended its mission in 2011, with a run time of more than seven years; the Opportunity rover, which landed on Mars on January 25, 2004, lost it in June 2018 Contact, after many attempts, there was no contact again. On February 13, 2019, NASA announced the end of the mission of the Opportunity rover, which has been operating on Mars for almost 15 years.

The reason why the Opportunity rover lost contact was that there was a global dust storm on Mars at that time. The pictures returned by the Mars rover showed that the sky on Mars had become gray and the sun was difficult to see clearly. Under such circumstances, the Opportunity rover's energy became less and less, and finally disappeared in a dust storm.

This is not the first time that the Opportunity rover has encountered sandstorms on Mars, because there are seasonal sandstorms on Mars every year. When the rover encountered sandstorms before, the rover was able to survive because the previous sandstorms were not particularly strong. It won't last long, and some strong winds will also blow the sand off the rover's solar panels. It's just that the sandstorm in June 2018 was relatively strong, and it was a global sandstorm, which caused a lot more sand and dust than before. In the end, the Opportunity rover could not survive. It lost contact, possibly due to a lack of energy, or it was directly buried in a thick layer of dust.

Zhurong number to be careful?

Now our Zhurong rover is also running on the surface of Mars. Seeing that the Opportunity rover was engulfed by the dust storm before, and now the Opportunity rover has lost contact for a short time, some friends may start to worry about our Zhurong Mars. Does the car have the same problem.

From the perspective of energy sources, our Zhurong rover also generates electricity through solar energy. If there is a dust storm on Mars, it will indeed have a certain impact on the power generation of the rover. However, these problems have been taken into account by scientists, and some countermeasures have been made during the design.

For example, the solar wings of the Mars rover are designed with materials like lotus leaves. Water droplets can slip off when they fall, and the sand and dust can be easily blown away by the wind. Strong winds often occur on Mars. The dust is easily blown away.

In addition, the solar wing of the rover also has the function of directional tracking of the sun, which can be adjusted according to the position of the sun like a sunflower, and can maximize the acquisition of solar energy.

When there is severe weather such as sandstorms on Mars, the rover can also change the working mode to reduce heat consumption, or directly automatically power off. When the weather conditions improve, the rover will wake up autonomously and continue to work.