Software update is required for Mars helicopter

NASA recently announced that the Ingenuity helicopter is in need of a software update before it can take its first flight.

Indeed, last Friday, the helicopter’s autonomous control software reported a problem, which stopped the drone’s rotor startup sequence on Mars. Hence, the update aims to fix the bug, delaying the flight to later this month.

NASA declared in a report that would need to have a software fix for the ‘command sequence issue’, which was responsible for putting an end to the high-speed spin-up test last week. Another date for the helicopter’s first test flight hasn’t been announced yet.

It was later reported that the helicopter’s flight control software will be reinstalled alongside a slight modification to the process that boots up the helicopter’s two flight computers. With the update, the helicopter’s hardware and software will be able to safely transition to flight mode. Later this week, the software update will be reviewed in testbeds. Afterward, the updated software should be installed into the helicopter’s flight computers.

NASA feels confident in tackling this challenge and fixing Ingenuity’s problem.

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