NASA’s Perseverance Explorer will land on the Red Planet on February 18, but the rover will not be the only robotic explorer to have recently arrived. The wheeled robot carries the creativity of a Mars helicopter on its stomach, and NASA has published an easy list of things to know about the mission. Although many of the six facts seem to drive home, NASA doesn’t really know if creativity will work. In fact it is It can still be considered a success In JPL even if it crashed on its first flight.

Here are the six things NASA thinks you need to know about creativity before you touch.

1. Creativity is an experimental flight test.
2. Mars will not make it easy for Ingenuity to experience their first powered and controlled flight on another planet.
3. Innovation relies on the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission for safe passage to Mars and for operations on the surface of the Red Planet.
4. Creativity is smart for a little robot.
5. The creativity team calculates success step by step.
6. If creativity succeeds, future Mars exploration could include an ambitious air dimension.

Almost half of this list appears to be about controlling expectations. NASA has conducted all the tests it can do on Earth, including simulating the pressure and gravity of Mars, to ensure that the tiny helicopter can generate enough lift force. Mars It has enough atmosphere that the probes need protection from the heat for its descent, but not enough because parachutes can slow down an object sized enough for a quiet landing. The creativity is designed to be light with the large size rotating blades to compensate. However, JPL engineers cannot say for sure that it will work.

NASA also maintains that creativity is experimental. Uses mostly off-the-shelf hardware, and relies on perseverance trolley to communicate and explore. NASA is focusing on small victories along the path of creativity, from surviving flight, to successful deployment on the surface, to finally moving to the sky.

Since Mars is so distant, there is no way to control its flight in real time. However, NASA maintains that intelligence has enough brains to make its own decisions. If all of this combined, and creativity could give us an aerial view of Mars, it could change how future missions are designed. Perseverance can complete its mission even if creativity catches fire on its maiden flight, but future Mars missions may rely on drones to do important jobs.

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