Gearing Up

As China prepares to launch the modules of its next space station into orbit, the astronauts who will help assemble it in space are completing rigorous training.

China plans to launch several individual space station modules in the coming months, Space.com reports, and human crews will follow to help with assembly. China plans to get the components and modules of its Tiangong-3 space station into orbit over the course of 11 launches, so the crewmembers will have their work cut out for them as they piece it together — a dazzling test of China’s growing space prowess.

Familiar Face

So far, there’s no timeline available for the individual missions, but astronauts will follow the space station’s modules into orbit inside the Shcnzhou capsule, launched from China’s new Long March 2F rockets.

So far, the crewmembers’ identities have been kept under wraps. But Space.com spotted astronaut Wang Yaping, the second Chinese woman to go to space, in a recent video report by the state-owned Xinhua News Agency that showed some of the training astronauts are undergoing — suggesting she may have made the cut.

China’s space agency revealed a new roster of astronauts in October, but even the people on that list will need to complete the ongoing training before they’re actually selected for a given mission.

Practice Run

Part of the rigorous training program includes putting on a spacesuit and plunging underwater to work inside a full-scale replica of the space station, according to Space.com.

The crewmembers will need to be able to perform risky spacewalks that last up to six hours while they assemble Tiangong-3, according to footage released by the Chinese government, so the ongoing training is designed to put them through the paces as much as possible while they’re still here on Earth and the stakes are much lower.

READ MORE: With 1st space station launch this spring, Chinese astronauts are training for flight [Space.com]

More on China’s space program: Congress Bars NASA From Working With China. That’s Likely a Mistake.

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Air Raid

The death count as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has been astronomical — but there may be an even bigger threat facing humanity that often goes unnoticed: air pollution, as Guardian columnist Rebecca Solnit argues in a recent opinion piece for the newspaper.

She points to one recent study that found that air pollution caused by the use of fossil fuels results in the deaths of around 8.7 million people worldwide each year, with 62 percent of deaths occurring in China and India — meaning it kills roughly three times annually as many people as the COVID-19 pandemic did last year.

Pollution Killer

Solnit argues that while the death toll of COVID-19 has been brought to the forefront of every discussion, the same can’t be said about air pollution and climate change.

“We have learned to ignore other forms of death and destruction, by which I mean we have normalized them as a kind of moral background noise,” Solnit argues.

“What if we treated those 8.7 million annual deaths from air pollution as an emergency and a crisis,” she writes, “and recognized that respiratory impact from particulates is only a small part of the devastating impact of burning fossil fuels?”

Impact Assessment

Solnit suggests we could use the same amount of funds made available to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and use them to fight climate change.

“In response to the pandemic, we in the US have spent trillions of dollars and changed how we live and work,” she argues. “We need the will to do the same for the climate crisis.”

It’s certainly not an argument to look away as thousands succumb to the deadly coronavirus every day. More than 2.8 million people have died from the virus, according to the New York Times tracker, since the start of the pandemic.

But our mobilizing efforts prove that we have the resources to make a dent in much bigger problems facing humanity today — like climate change.

READ MORE: There’s another pandemic under our noses, and it kills 8.7m people a year [The Guardian]

More on air pollution: This $350 Breathing Mask Is Cashing in on Climate Change

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Left Behind

Roughly 4.5 billion years ago, an ancient protoplanet called Theia likely crashed into the Earth, sending shrapnel and debris into space and ultimately forming the Moon.

But the crash also likely left pieces of Theia buried beneath the Earth in the form of two incredibly huge blobs of rock and metal, according to research by Arizona State University scientists. Now, in a new interview with Insider, the lead scientist behind that research has clarified their utterly unfathomable scale.

Those ancient, buried fragments are “millions of times larger than Mount Everest in terms of volume,” Arizona State researcher Qian Yuan told the site.

Dream Summit

The gargantuan masses are 621 miles tall and two to three times as wide, according to Yuan’s research, scheduled to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. And the rock isn’t just sitting there — scientists have previously been able to study the blobs after their contents oozed up and out of Samoan and Icelandic volcanoes, according to Insider.

Studying that lava, according to Insider, is part of what led scientists to believe that the blobs are drastically different from the surrounding mantle, lending evidence to the idea they came from somewhere other than Earth.

Nearby Shrapnel

If these underground blobs really are pieces of Theia, it would mean that Earth had a shockingly violent past. But it would also help explain where the Moon came from.

A “hit-and-run” theory of the Earth-Theia collision, Yuan told Insider, would say that the two planets glanced off each other and the pieces they flung into space eventually formed the Moon. Scientists have previously suggested there are pieces of Theia under the lunar surface, but the Moon’s composition is highly similar to Earth. Given that and the incredible size of the blobs that got buried, it seems most of the ancient planet’s surviving remains got stuck here instead.

READ MORE: Earth contains buried chunks of an alien world that are ‘millions of times larger than Mount Everest,’ research suggests [Insider]

More on Theia: There Appears to be a Huge Chunk of an Ancient Planet Buried Inside Earth

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Pieces of Alien Planet Buried Inside Earth Are “Millions of Times Larger Than Mount Everest”

The concept of a space elevator, a consistently popular topic in works of science fiction, has been around since at least the late 19th century.

The basic idea is to allow us to reach space by using a cable that’s tethered to the Earth on one end and to a counterweight, orbiting the Earth, on the other.

But rather than having one end cemented in the Earth, scientists are now arguing that a more recently developed iteration of the space elevator design could be built much sooner. The design involves having both ends of the tether float entirely in space, making transportation of payloads from one orbit to the other much easier.

And, as George Zhu, professor of mechanical engineering at York University, tells The Academic Times, the concept isn’t nearly as far fetched as we might think.

“Technical-wise, it’s kind of ready,” Zhu told the outlet. “It just has small engineering [adjustments], and there’s no fundamental difficulty to do that.”

In his paper, published in the journal Acta Astronautica last month,  Zhu argues that a “partial space elevator” that sends payloads from a lower to a higher Earth orbit is already mechanically feasible today.

In short, the idea is to send payloads to the lower reaches of space via rockets, attach them to the lower end of the tether, and have them be zipped up to the further reaches of Earth’s orbit via the elevator.

Such an elevator could use two, instead of one, cable tethers to keep the elevator stable.

That’s mainly to stop the Earth’s rotational force, the Coriolis effect, moving the cable back and forth, a phenomenon referred to by Zhu as “libration.”

“Our idea is, when we put two tethers together, one cargo will be moving up and the other cargo will be moving down, so the forces will cancel each other,” Zhu told The Academic Times.

Since “both ends are floating in space,” according to Zhu, “the tension within the tether is limited. Current material can support that tension.”

As a result of the significant fuel savings involved in only sending a rocket to the lower reaches of space, today’s rockets could send up to ten times more payload by weight into space, according to the researcher.

There are several downsides to the approach, however. Zhu did admit to The Academic Times that a kilometers-long tether would make it very difficult for existing objects in Earth’s orbit to avoid debris.

For instance, the International Space Station routinely has to fire its thrusters to avoid oncoming bits of space junk. If it were tied to an extremely long tether, as Zhang suggests, such maneuvers would be near impossible.

While such a space elevator doesn’t quite solve the issue of having to spend massive amounts of fuel to get off the ground and escape the Earth’s powerful gravitational pull, it could still cut the required journey short significantly, saving plenty of fuel in the process — an intriguing possibility.

READ MORE: Far from science fiction, space elevators may be nearing deployment [The Academic Times]

More on space elevators: These Researchers Want to Run a Cable From the Earth to the Moon

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Professor Says We Could Already Build a Floating Space Elevator

There’s something exhilarating about getting a COVID-19 vaccine injected into your arm.

The past year and change has been a disaster, especially in the United States: Over 500,000 of our friends, family members, loved ones, and neighbors have died, and the government’s response illuminated and exacerbated the structural inequalities that are deeply entrenched in American society.

But for many — soon to be many more as more states plan to open vaccination appointments to the general public — getting that jab gives a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a sign that, after months and months of lockdown blurring together, you’re a lot more likely to make it out.

And also, after the horror stories we endured regarding missing, faulty, or insufficient tests, the act of getting a vaccine might leave you walking away in awe over a public health initiative that actually runs smoothly.

“After I got the shot, I left Javits Center in such a good mood,” NBC News reporter Ben Collins tweeted Thursday. “I realize now I had some sort of contact high from experiencing something communal and in public that worked, and did exactly what they said it was going to do. Haven’t seen anything like that in years, literally.”

“Literally I volunteer at a vaccine pod every Saturday with [the] Chicago dept of public health [because] of this feeling !!!!” tweeted Sruti Ramadugu, a Strategic Initiatives Advisor at the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation.

When I got my first shot, I walked into a clinic, filled out a form, and got a free injection. There’s no doubt in my mind that my experience was easier than many others — especially given some areas’ horrible vaccine rollouts and the lack of national coordination early on — and there’s an undeniable privilege in being able to hide indoors until it was time to get jabbed.

But still, the experience was remarkably straightforward and felt like it took less time than planning out which masks and face shield I’d wear. The simplicity felt unreal, and I get what Collins is talking about: I jumped in the air and clicked my heels like a cartoon character (holding the champagne I’d impulse bought) when I got outside.

“I realized how relentlessly let down I am by basic stuff here,” Collins tweeted. “Nothing ever works, everything is always a pain in the ass, but I make do. It is shocking when you walk into a place then leave and there was no trap or trick. Borderline euphoric.”

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I Spy

NASA has been hinting that it hid two more Easter eggs on the Perseverance rover it’s currently steering around the surface of Mars — and that nobody has spotted them yet.

The space agency posted a few clues on Twitter, urging followers to investigate and uncover them before a big, on-theme Easter reveal this upcoming Sunday. NASA says that both hidden surprises can be seen in Perseverance’s collection of raw images. But because there are over 16,500 of those online, you may also need the hints that NASA has been dropping on Twitter throughout the week.

Past Reveals

NASA has a long history of hiding messages on its rovers as a sort of inside joke. Some of the secret messages on Perseverance have already come to light. For instance, the rover’s landing parachute had “DARE MIGHTY THINGS,” a phrase borrowed from a famous Theodore Roosevelt speech, encoded in binary on it.

Perseverance also has a “family photo” of previous Mars rovers on its exterior.

Tick Tock

For those who want to uncover the last two Easter eggs in time, NASA posted a couple extra hints.

“Hint on Easter egg #1: every vehicle has one. Hint on Easter egg #2: it’s in our nature,” NASA tweeted on Wednesday. On Friday, NASA followed up to mention that the second one is “‘wheely’ tricky to spot,” so, you know, do with that what you will.

Happy hunting!

More on Perseverance: All The Easter Eggs NASA Engineers Left on the Mars Rover

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Sorry Not Sorry

Amazon has issued a rare public apology related to its whole creating-a-harmful-and-oppressive-work-environment-that-forces-employees-to-urinate-in-bottles problem — but it wasn’t aimed at its workers.

After the tech company was caught lying to Rep. Mark Pocan and denying that Amazon workers don’t pee in bottles because of how oppressive working conditions are, they admitted that they weren’t “accurate” about their claims, according to The Verge. 

“This was an own-goal, we’re unhappy about it, and we owe an apology to Representative Pocan,” the statement posted on the Amazon blog read. It then went on to explain that they did not take into account their drivers who have been known to urinate in water bottles, while also continuing to lie about how employees at their fulfillment centers haven’t had that experience. 

You can check out the full apology on the Amazon blog. 

Piss-Poor PR 

The statement was released on Friday April 2 — more than a week after it posted this tweet in reply to a tweet from Pocan criticizing the company’s abusive management tactics. 

1/2 You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. The truth is that we have over a million incredible employees around the world who are proud of what they do, and have great wages and health care from day one.

— Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 25, 2021

The tweet was quickly ratio’d to hell and inundated with replies asserting that Amazon’s employees were, in fact, peeing in water bottles due to bad work conditions.

I was the person who found the pee in the bottle. Trust me, it happened. https://t.co/U76UlDRWSO

— James Bloodworth (@J_Bloodworth) March 25, 2021

Peeing at Amazon – or not being able to – is an actual thing. Here's what workers told me. https://t.co/D0lp4pdQ5D https://t.co/eqFiS8WZbG pic.twitter.com/RVLOYezGvE

— Will Evans (@willCIR) March 25, 2021

Delete Your Account

Amazon is actually having a bit of a moment when it comes to Twitter spats defending their onerous management practices as well as decrying union organizing efforts. They’ve even taken to social media to pick fights with the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren who have been largely critical of the company.

There’s a big difference between talk and action. @SenSanders has been a powerful politician in Vermont for 30 years and their min wage is still $11.75. Amazon’s is $15, plus great health care from day one. Sanders would rather talk in Alabama than act in Vermont.

— Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 26, 2021

In a few instances, sock puppet Twitter accounts have appeared posting anti-union tweets under the guise of being Amazon employees. Among them included an account whose profile picture was actually one of the guys from Dude Perfect. 

Amazon didn’t even really try with this one lol pic.twitter.com/Q9dyTzKqns

— Tim Sullivan (@timjsully) March 29, 2021

This is a part of a trend that’s been occurring for a few years now of bizarrely-obvious fake Twitter accounts championing Amazon. For a multi-billion dollar company, they sure do have some of the crappiest social media strategies (and also workplace practices). 

READ MORE: Amazon apologizes for lying about pee — and attempts to shift the blame [The Verge]

More on Amazon: Those Obviously-Fake Amazon Warehouse Workers are Still Tweeting

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Power and Propulsion

NASA has recently tested a propulsion system for its future lunar space station.

The agency conducted the ground test of a subsystem for their Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), according to a NASA press release. The PPE will allow NASA’s Gateway, an outpost to orbit the Moon, to maneuver above the lunar surface. 

Check out a video of the ground test below (complete with cheesy 90s house music):

Exciting First Steps

The test was for a six-kilowatt solar electric propulsion subsystem. NASA plans to combine several of these thrusters to create the PPE’s 50-kilowatt electric propulsion system. When completed, it’ll be the most “powerful electric propulsion spacecraft ever flown,” according to the press release.

“This is an exciting first step toward proving the PPE’s propulsion system will meet Gateway’s requirements,” said Power and Propulsion Element manager at NASA’s Glenn Research Center Mike Barret in the press release. “These thrusters will be critical in delivering the first elements of Gateway to lunar orbit and will help us create a dynamic exploration platform over Gateway’s 15-year lifespan.”

Gateway to the Moon

Gateway is a part of NASA’s Artemis program to land the first woman (along with yet another man) on the Moon by 2024. The agency hopes that the orbiting lunar outpost will provide support for “sustainable, long-term human and robotic exploration,” according to the press release. 

To create Gateway, NASA is partnering with SpaceX to launch the portion of the outpost where astronauts will live. Once that happens, the first crewed mission for the Artemis program will launch in 2023 — with a touchdown on the lunar surface slated the next year. 

READ MORE: We’re Fired Up! Gateway’s Propulsion System Passes First Test [NASA]

More on Artemis: NASA Releases Beautiful New Renders of Lunar Gateway Space Station

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NASA Tests Propulsion System for Lunar Space Station

Insightful Observation

NASA has recently observed two strong quakes on Mars — but still aren’t clear on their origins.

The agency’s InSight lander detected the magnitude 3.3 and 3.1 rumblings on March 7 and 18 (respectively) in a region on Mars called Cerberus Fossae, according to a NASA press release.  The lander has previously detected two other powerful “Marsquakes”  in the same region measuring at magnitude 3.6 and 3.5.

Though InSight has recorded more than 500 quakes, the four detected in Cerberus Fossae offer the clearest signals to observe the interior of the planet. 

Earth-Like Quakes

Researchers believe these four quakes indicate that the region is active with seismic activity.

“Over the course of the mission, we’ve seen two different types of marsquakes: one that is more ‘Moon-like’ and the other, more ‘Earth-like,’” said Taichi Kawamura of France’s Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in the press release. According to NASA, Earth-like quakes have waves that travel through a planet. Moon-like quakes, on the other hand, are scattered. 

“Interestingly,” Kawamura said, “all four of these larger quakes, which come from Cerberus Fossae, are ‘Earth-like.’”

Marsquake Weather

Scientists say that the InSight lander benefitted from the right weather conditions on the Martian surface when it detected the quakes. That’s because the seismometer they’re using is sensitive enough that wind and cold weather can affect its detection. 

“It’s wonderful to once again observe marsquakes after a long period of recording wind noise,” said John Clinton, the leader for InSight’s Marsquake Service at ETH Zurich said in the press release. “One Martian year on, we are now much faster at characterizing seismic activity on the Red Planet.”

Researchers still don’t know the exact origins of the rumblings since the planet doesn’t have tectonic plates like Earth. Some theories include frozen groundwater creating pressure on the Martian surface much in the same way fracking does. 

READ MORE: NASA’s InSight Detects Two Sizable Quakes on Mars [NASA]

More on Marsquakes: NASA’s Insight Mars Lander Just Recorded Its First Ever Marsquake

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Mars Lander Detects Mysterious “Marsquakes”

Well-Armed Confrontation

Most vacation souvenirs come in the form of cheap, plastic tchotchkes bought at gift shops — but sometimes they come in the form of scars from giant octopus attacks.

That was the case with an Australian man who was attacked by a giant octopus while on vacation with his family in March. 

Lance Karlson, a 34-year-old geologist from Perth, was vacationing with his wife and daughter on a beach in Dunsborough, Australia on March 18 when he spotted a giant octopus in shallow waters, according to The New York Times. He decided to approach the creature with his 2-year-old daughter in one hand and a phone to record the encounter in the other. 

Here’s what happened:

The Angriest Octopus

Karlson and his daughter made it away unscathed from that particular interaction. However, when the geologist decided to do some snorkeling later, he was attacked by what he described as “the angriest octopus” to the NYT. 

As he swam out into the ocean, he spotted a pile of crab shells stacked on the ocean floor — a common way for octopi to conceal their hiding spots. He told the NYT that an octopus then lashed out at him twice, striking him on his neck, back, and arms. 

His injuries consisted of visible red marks on his neck, back, and arms. He also felt a stinging sensation where he was struck, and his wife later poured soda down his back to alleviate the pain.

“The stinging sensation went away almost instantly,” Karlson said to the NYT. 

Judit Pungor, an octopus researcher at the University of Oregon, told the NYT that octopus don’t have venom in their tentacles that would be “alleviated by pouring something acidic over it.” She believes that Karlson might have been coincidentally attacked by a jellyfish.

But it wouldn’t be too surprising if he was attacked by an octopus. After all, they’ve been known to punch fish out of spite.

Octopuses punch fishes. YES. OCTOPUSES. PUNCH. FISHES!!

Our new paper is out on @ESAEcology, showing that octos express this behavior during collaborative hunting with other fishes. This was probably the most fun I had writing a paper. Ever! (small )https://t.co/Vwg9BoaSUo pic.twitter.com/PIYuVXpM9t

— Eduardo Sampaio (@OctoEduardo) December 18, 2020

Beautiful Creatures

After posting the video to his Instagram, it quickly went viral. Now, Karlson fears that people will get the wrong idea about octopuses saying that folks should “give some love to these beautiful creatures and not treat them with disdain.”

Peter Ulric Tse, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Dartmouth College who has studied octopus behavior, believes that the creature in the viral video wasn’t trying to harm Karlson.

“My guess is that the octopus here is sending a warning meaning ‘back off,’” he told the NYT. “Octopuses will lunge or shoot an arm out when they feel a fish, another octopus or a human is in their space. I think this is often pre-emptive aggression, meant to signal ‘don’t mess with me,’ rather than aggression seriously meant to harm the ‘invader.’”

So instead of having a Jaws-esque backlash against our favorite eight-tentacled vertebrate, we should appreciate them from afar — and maybe avoid bothering them for the ‘gram.

READ MORE: ‘The Angriest Octopus’ Lashes at a Tourist on an Australian Beach [NYT]

More on octopi: Scientists Say That “Spiteful” Octopuses Punch Fish When They’re Angry  

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The One Who Causes Fear

Paleontologists have discovered a new dinosaur species in Patagonia that likely had superior hearing abilities over its fellow dinosaurs.  

Researchers in Argentina dubbed the new species “Llukalkan aliocranianus,” according to a press release from the paleontologists. Llukalkan comes from the Mapuche word for “the one who causes fear,” while aliocranianus is Latin for “unusual skull.”

Aside from its very metal name, the dinosaur is also notable for its uniquely-shaped head, which researchers say gave it more sharpened hearing abilities.

“A peculiarity of this dinosaur is that it has cavities in the ear area that other abelisaurids did not have, which could have given this species different auditory capacities, possibly a greater hearing range,” said Federico Gianechini, a paleontologist at the National University of San Luis, Argentina, in paper published in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. “This, together with its keen sense of smell, would have given great capabilities as a predator to this species.”

Here’s a closer look at that unusually-shaped skull:

A Top Predator

The dinosaur looked a lot like a T-Rex, with a large head and short stubby arms. It was also just as fierce — if not fiercer. 

According to the press release, the Llukalkan was “likely among the top predators” in the region during the Late Cretaceous period. It measured up to five meters long, and had sharp teeth, big claws, and a strong bite — not to mention straight up super hearing abilities. 

So yeah. If they ever end up mixing frog genes with dinosaur DNA a la Jurassic Park, let’s all hope they take a pass on “the one who causes fear.”

READ MORE: New Dinosaur Discovered in Patagonia, Dubbed ‘One Who Causes Fear’ [IGN]

More on dinosaurs: Scientists Find Smoking Gun Evidence in Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Case

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Paleontologists Discover Dinosaur With Super Hearing

Making Contact

String theorist and science populariser Michio Kaku believes that the James Webb Space Telescope will find life on other planets — but he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to reach out to any potential aliens. 

The professor of theoretical physics at City College, New York spoke to The Guardian about his trepidations in an interview about his upcoming book “The God Equation.” He says he believes that we are on track to discover alien life within a century.

“Soon we’ll have the [Webb] telescope up in orbit and we’ll have thousands of planets to look at,” Kaku said to The Guardian, “and that’s why I think the chances are quite high that we may make contact with an alien civilization.”

When Montezuma Met Cortés

However, the string theorist and best-selling author doesn’t believe that we should be so quick to reach out to other lifeforms even if we did find them.

“There are some colleagues of mine that believe we should reach out to them. I think that’s a terrible idea,” he said to The Guardian. “We all know what happened to Montezuma when he met Cortés in Mexico so many hundreds of years ago. Now, personally, I think that aliens out there would be friendly but we can’t gamble on it. So I think we will make contact but we should do it very carefully.”

He doesn’t make it clear who is Montezuma and who is Cortés between the aliens and humanity — and, frankly, we’re not sure what’s scarier. 

READ MORE: String theorist Michio Kaku: ‘Reaching out to aliens is a terrible idea [The Guardian]

More on aliens: Elon Musk Has an Interesting Argument Against UFOs

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The Final Drop

The Ingenuity helicopter has been dropped off on the surface of Mars by the Perseverance rover. 

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab announced on Twitter that Ingenuity has successfully touched down on the Martian surface on Saturday, according to CNET. It was the culmination of nearly a week of deployment procedures — not to mention 293 million miles and about seven months of travel from Earth to Mars on the belly of the Perseverance rover.

#MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed! Its 293 million mile (471 million km) journey aboard @NASAPersevere ended with the final drop of 4 inches (10 cm) from the rover's belly to the surface of Mars today. Next milestone? Survive the night. https://t.co/TNCdXWcKWE pic.twitter.com/XaBiSNebua

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) April 4, 2021

The tweet included a great shot of Ingenuity standing on its four legs on the rocky landscape where it will take off later this month:

Survive the Night

Now Ingenuity has to brave through its first night “alone” on Mars. 

Until it was dropped off, the helicopter relied on the Perseverance rover to keep its battery charged, and also used the rover’s thermostat-controlled heater to keep warm, according to NASA. Now that it’s disconnected, it’ll have to contend with Martian nights that can get as cold as -130 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Luckily, Ingenuity has its own heater to keep warm along with a solar panel to charge its battery — but it’ll still be a nerve-wracking waiting game for NASA engineers. “The Ingenuity team will be anxiously waiting to hear from the helicopter the next day,” said Bob Balaram, chief engineer for the Mars Helicopter Project at JPL, in a status update.

Next Up: Taking Flight (Kind Of)

If all goes well (knock on wood), the Ingenuity team will continue to check on the helicopter’s temperature and battery performance over the next few days. After that, it’ll begin preliminary flight procedures.

“If it all looks good, then it’s onto the next steps: unlocking the rotor blades, and testing out all the motors and sensors,” Balaram said in the status update.  

The flight is scheduled for April 11, according to a tweet from JPL. As with all things space exploration related, though, that’s subject to change at any moment. Once it does happen, it’ll mark the first ever controlled flight through another planet’s air space. 

READ MORE: NASA Perseverance rover drops Ingenuity helicopter off on Mars surface [CNET] 

More on Ingenuity: NASA Hid a Small Piece of the Wright Brothers’ Airplane in Its Mars Helicopter

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