Editing 2444: Ingenuity
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| titletext = Plot twist: Thanks to [mumble mumble] second-order [mumble] Rayleigh-Taylor [mumble] turbulent [mumble] shear, it turns out powered flight is way EASIER on Mars! | | titletext = Plot twist: Thanks to [mumble mumble] second-order [mumble] Rayleigh-Taylor [mumble] turbulent [mumble] shear, it turns out powered flight is way EASIER on Mars! | ||
}} | }} | ||
+ | {{incomplete|Need an explanation of Rayleigh-Taylor effects mentioned in title text}} | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
{{w|Ingenuity_(helicopter)|Ingenuity}} is a drone-like helicopter deployed to the surface of Mars. It rode on the underside of the Perseverance rover and at the time of publication its protective housing had been released from the rover and it was being prepared for a flight in early April. The helicopter is supposed to take off after the rover fully releases it and clears its takeoff trajectory. | {{w|Ingenuity_(helicopter)|Ingenuity}} is a drone-like helicopter deployed to the surface of Mars. It rode on the underside of the Perseverance rover and at the time of publication its protective housing had been released from the rover and it was being prepared for a flight in early April. The helicopter is supposed to take off after the rover fully releases it and clears its takeoff trajectory. | ||
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The total mass of the two vehicles is about 556 times that of the helicopter alone, meaning the unexpected lift effect 'described' would have to be several hundred times more effective than that anticipated, depending upon the factor of overdesign already built in to avoid an expensive marginal failure. It also seems to be trivially easy to balance the extremely top-heavy loading upon the small solar-panel that tops out the counter-rotating coaxial blades, which adds yet more questions of both the dynamic and structural performance, never mind questions about the available power to accomplish this and the later possibilities to recharge. | The total mass of the two vehicles is about 556 times that of the helicopter alone, meaning the unexpected lift effect 'described' would have to be several hundred times more effective than that anticipated, depending upon the factor of overdesign already built in to avoid an expensive marginal failure. It also seems to be trivially easy to balance the extremely top-heavy loading upon the small solar-panel that tops out the counter-rotating coaxial blades, which adds yet more questions of both the dynamic and structural performance, never mind questions about the available power to accomplish this and the later possibilities to recharge. | ||
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It is not the first time that we have seen a Mars vehicle [[1504|vastly exceed expectations]] in these pages. | It is not the first time that we have seen a Mars vehicle [[1504|vastly exceed expectations]] in these pages. |