灵巧号：火星的迷你直升机

2021年03月02日

Ingenuity: A Mini-Helicopter Now on Mars
Illustration Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Mars 2020 – Perseverance

Explanation: What if you could fly around Mars? NASA may have achieved that capability last month with the landing of Perseverance, a rover which included a small flight-worthy companion called Ingenuity, nicknamed Ginny. Even though Ginny is small — a toaster-sized helicopter with four long legs and two even-longer (1.2-meter) rotors, she is the first of her kind — there has never been anything like her before. After being deployed, possibly in April, the car-sized Perseverance (“Percy”) will back away to give Ginny ample room to attempt her unprecedented first flight. In the featured artistic illustration, Ginny’s long rotors are depicted giving her the lift she needs to fly into the thin Martian atmosphere and explore the area near Perseverance. Although Ingenuity herself will not fly very far, she is a prototype for all future airborne Solar-System robots that may fly far across not only Mars, but Titan.

Tomorrow’s picture: erupting earth

机智号：火星的迷你直升机
图示提供: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Mars 2020 – Perseverance

说明: 如能在火星上飞来飞去，该有多好？在上个月，当毅力号着陆火星时，NASA或许已经具备这项能力，因为它携带一部名为机智号（昵称小精灵）的飞行伙伴。小巧的”小精灵＂是一部有4条长腿、旋翼宽达1.2公尺、大小如烤面包机的直升机。在今年4月份，如果依规划如期布署小精灵之后，房车大小的毅力号（波西）将退开，让机智号有充份的空间进行历史性的首航。在这幅画家手绘的图示里，小精灵长长的旋翼，让它有足够的升力飞翔在稀薄的火星大气里，从空中探索毅力号附近的区域。纵然机智号飞不远，不过它是未来其他火星或土卫六长程无人飞行器的原型机。 （Ingenuity 机智号； Ginny 小精灵； Percy 波西）

明日的图片: erupting earth