--- title: "NASA’s Mars Helicopter Is In Trouble" description: "NASA's Ingenuity helicopter had to delay its 14th flight, scheduled for September 18, due to an \"anomaly\" with its flight-control motors." date: "2021-09-30" modified: "2021-09-30" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-mars-helicopter-trouble" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "ingenuity" - "mars helicopter" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # NASA’s Mars Helicopter Is In Trouble ![NASA's Ingenuity helicopter had to delay its 14th flight, scheduled for September 18, due to an "anomaly" with its flight-control motors.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Flight Anomaly NASA's [Ingenuity]() Mars helicopter had to delay its 14th flight due to an "anomaly" with its flight-control motors. The flight was initially scheduled for September 18, [according to a Tuesday update]() by Jaakko Karras, deputy operations lead for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. Ingenuity was meant to hover at 16 feet while spinning its blades at 2,700 revolutions per minute. At least, that was the plan. Ingenuity did not take off after detecting issues with its two "servos," electric position control devices that change the pitch of the rotors — and canceled the flight. In other words, it may have detected the problem, but it made the right choice not to take off, Karras explained. ## Servo Wiggle Servos are critical to keeping Ingenuity in the air and heading in the right direction. The small helicopter goes through a sequence of steps to test these servos before each flight, what the team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab affectionately calls the "servo wiggle." The Ingenuity team executed two more wiggle tests last week, which were successful, meaning that "the issue isn’t entirely repeatable," according to Karras. Fortunately, [there's some down time]() as the Sun passes between here and Mars, making reliable communications near impossible. "Our team will have a few weeks of time to complete our analysis because Mars will be in solar conjunction until mid-October and we won’t be uplinking any command sequences to Ingenuity during that time," Karras wrote. For now, all the team can do is wait and see how Ingenuity does during its two-week vacation. "See you on the other side of conjunction!" Karras added. **READ MORE:** [2,800 RPM Spin a Success, but Flight 14 Delayed to Post Conjunction]() \[NASA\] **More on Mars helicopter:** *[China Appears to Be Working on a Clone of NASA’s Mars Helicopter]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()