Industry Related News: United States – January, 2021:
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter launched aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover on July 30, 2020 and is set to arrive on the Red Planet on February 18, 2021. This is the culmination of years of planning, preparation, and extensive Mars thermal testing and environmental testing from NASA’s Mars Helicopter team. The first flight of Ingenuity is what’s known as a “technology demonstration” to test the flight capabilities of future devices inhabiting the extremely thin atmosphere and punishing temperatures of Mars. This is not only essential for gathering data and exploring Mars, but in laying the groundwork for future flight developments within the Mars atmosphere. In order to complete this test, the Ingenuity Helicopter must survive the rigorous launch, extensive space travel, and a potentially contentious landing. The device must be light enough to fly, yet sturdy and substantial enough to endure tremors, shock, and other resistance during travel and landing.
While the team was concerned with keeping the Helicopter in one piece during its Journey to Mars, their main focus and concern was with the harsh Mars nights and brutally high daytime temperatures. At the landing site of Jezero Crater, the Helicopter and rover can experience “nights as cold as -130° Fahrenheit (-90° Celsius).” There is also the issue of the incredibly thin atmosphere on Mars, which requires larger blades and faster rotation for flight while still maintaining a light body and aerodynamic form factor. The Ingenuity’s introduction to Mars has many factors of danger and countless variables for failure, but the team designed and refined the device to account for as many conditions and anomalies as possible.
The team performed extensive vacuum thermal testing and environmental testing on Earth to study the effects of the atmosphere and temperatures that space travel can produce. From its initial development to its launch preparation, Ingenuity withstood dozens of rounds of Mars thermal testing to find the best materials to be used for its parts and components, as well as vacuum chamber tests to calculate optimal performance in Mars’ atmosphere. Ingenuity, along with the Perseverance Rover, has been designed and tested to survive temperatures beyond each side of the brutal Mars temperature spectrum with special materials and compounds designed to diffuse excess heat while preventing freezing and malfunctioning of crucial electronic components in severe cold. As the current form of Ingenuity has passed the extensive, high-standard testing of NASA, they hope that this will be enough to prepare the machine for extraplanetary use when the device lands and deploys next month.
Whether you’re testing rotors on a space exploration device or semiconductors on basic consumer electronics, thermal testing is a crucial step in preparing for all anticipated and unforeseen conditions for your product. Microwave testing devices like the Khoury Box help evaluate products of all shapes and sizes. Contact us today to discuss your project!
NASA, “6 Things to Know About NASA’s Mars Helicopter on Its Way to Mars“ nasa.gov, January 2021, Accessed 28 January 2021.
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Khoury Industries is a worldwide leader in temperature testing equipment for device characterization, thermal cycling equipment, and failure analysis. Khoury Industries designs and manufactures custom thermal testing chambers and microwave thermal testing fixtures used in a variety of industries including: military, space, automotive, medical, research, and communication fields. The Khoury Box and the patented ELI-1000 have quickly become industry favorites as thermal testing devices used to ensure the reliability of industrial and electronic products through prolonged exposure to extreme conditions.
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Bellingham, MA 02019
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