Mastodawn

@65dBnoise
The Flight 66 Preview says that the horizontal distance will be a mere 0.5 meters. 😲 At an altitude of 3m.

7 meters west then half a meter south? Sounds like a treasure hunt! 😃

@tom30519
Maybe it's testing its ability to orient itself on demand, and use it when the time comes to hibernate for the winter on a south facing megaripple slope.

Tom Montgomery

@65dBnoise
It must be for some reason like that. NASA doesn't do anything without it being part of a carefully thought out plan.

Especially as the two short flights are on consecutive days. The overnight cycle must be an important part of whatever it is they're testing.

@tom30519
Maybe how much energy such a move would require? Of course it's now summer, but that can be factored out in the calculation.

@65dBnoise
Eventually it will all become clear when the detailed explanation appears in the Analyst's Notebook!

@tom30519
Imagine if we had everything explained to us immediately, or ahead of time. What fun would that be ? 🙃

@65dBnoise
Reading the excellent reports from Curiosity's team is most interesting, I think. Having to wait months and months can be very frustrating! 🙂

@tom30519
Yeah, what a departure from the first year's reports for Ingenuity. But then, most of the people there went to work on the MSR helis, I think, wheels, arms and such. So, reporting to the public may be a second priority.

#Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter #Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

@tom30519
Or it could have an even simpler explanation: the feet dipped deeper into the regolith than expected, meaning the regolith could probably be unstable and they want the heli out of there, asap:

Image captured from RMC 64.0001/4850
Sol 955, LMST: 10:15:47

HELI_NAV
Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/00955/ids/edr/browse/heli/HNM_0955_0751711818_609ECM_N0640001HELI04850_0000LUJ01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

@65dBnoise
Yikes! Surprising that the foot went so far into the regolith, considering how light Ingenuity is. True, it does intentionally freefall the last little bit, but still...

But if they want to get Ginny out of there, why the two short flights, the second one only 50cm, on consecutive days? A single hop could easily do that. 🤔

@tom30519
To try the water, er, the regolith. Its stability that is. Maybe the acceleration sensors can detect the movement?

It may be even simpler than that: it landed on a steep slope, or just below the crest, and they are unsure about the stability, given that all visible feet seem to have dug deeply into the regolith, which in turn means it may not be very dense or compacted. In other words, that thing may not be a megaripple after all.

@tom30519
Actually, the ripple it landed on, which seems unstable, is a smaller E-W one, not the N-S megaripple: