NASA's fourth Mars Ingenuity helicopter flight postponed due to 'technical glitch'

NASA on Thursday missed its fourth scheduled flight for the Mars Ingenuity helicopter mission. The space agency has reported that the delay occurred due to a technical glitch and another attempt will be scheduled soon. The next try is expected to take place on Friday at 10:46 am Eastern Time (1446 GMT), the result of which likely to come out at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory around three hours later. 

The software issue is said to be the same one that was caused in Ingenuity's maiden voyage, the first powered flight on another planet. Initially scheduled for April 11, the historic feat occurred April 19. The issue is related to the flight's 'watchdog timer' which alerts the flight attendants if there is any potential glitch. Engineers had made a technological advancement for 'Ingenuity' to switch to flight mode even though any issue occurs however they calculated a 15 per cent chance it would not work on each flight attempt. 

NASA confident about its next attempt

"Today's delay is in line with that expectation and does not prevent future flight," added NASA. 

Ingenuity flights

NASA has already made three successful attempts with the four-pound (1.8 kilograms) helicopter, Perseverance rover, to reach Mars. Ingenuity flights are challenging because of a huge difference in conditions from Earth's. The topmost difference lies among them is a rarefied atmosphere that has less than one per cent the density of our own and means it has to spin its rotors at 2,400 revolutions per minute. 

The Ingenuity technology presentation will end in early May to allow the Perseverance rover to return to its main task: searching for signs of past microbial life on Mars. The last, successful flight that took place Sunday was witnessed faster and further than ever before. It was at a peak speed of 6.6 feet (two meters) per second. It covered 64 feet (50 meters) of distance.