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[-] Fabian@lemmy.zip 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I saw an interesting video about the first drone that flew on Mars. They programmed the flights in advance and it then executed them autonomously. I think that is even more impressive, since it would not have been possible to intervene if something went wrong. At the time the data was received, the drone already landed

[-] LostXOR@fedia.io 13 points 2 weeks ago

It's pretty amazing our first try at a fully autonomous helicopter on another planet flew and landed successfully 71 times. Rest in peace, Ingenuity.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Built with such a tiny budget that they used cell phone parts

[-] Thorry84@feddit.nl 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

IIRC that was part of the mission? They wanted to push themselves to see what could and could not be done with a very strict budget and cheap commonly available parts and tools.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 weeks ago

It worked surprisingly well

They blasted a bunch of phone hardware with radiation and picked the ones that held up

They then build a custom Linux system and called it a day

[-] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

That’s basically what spin launch did. They went and bought just consumer parts (not even the ones NASA could get/build) and put them into their centrifuge.

[-] StarMerchant938@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

What's the word with spinlaunch these days? I feel like I've been seeing hype videos for like a decade and not a single article about progress/achievement/contracts.

[-] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Just this month they broke a 2 year silence.

Linky

[-] StarMerchant938@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

That's actually super exciting! I'd be glad to see a player other than SpaceX make headway in the industry. Thanks for the reply!

[-] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

It’s interesting and I love seeing the “payload yeeter” start to actually get traction, but iirc there is downsides. It’s not like you can just launch any old thing, the payload needs to survive more Gs and it only replaces the first stage. So still need fuel and propulsion.

So many interesting “hype” things either get lost due to development, or not panning out. So it’s always great to see when they “succeed”.

[-] trolololol@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

And that's using the same hardware as you have in your phone. Not similar, the same.A snapdragon 801. Such as used in Galaxy S5, from 2014.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_devices_using_Qualcomm_Snapdragon_systems_on_chips

Snapdragon took care of image processing, guidance processing, and storing flight data—with readings 500 times a second—while the microcontroller was in charge of navigation and running the helicopter’s motors.

https://www.emergingtechbrew.com/stories/2021/04/23/smartphone-chip-powered-nasas-historic-flight-mars

[-] scarilog@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

It's kinda mind-blowing that the same hardware from my trusty s5 (that is currently gathering dust in a drawer somewhere, rip) powered flight of a drone on Mars.

[-] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 6 points 2 weeks ago

All of that with no GPS to get the location of the drone. They relied on a camera under the drone to basically act like an optical mouse sensor to follow the location of the drone.

[-] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I am not downplaying the supreme engineering of the mars rover team, especially because there is no GPS on mars, but DJI has pre-programmed drone flights that work with their consumer drones, called missions.

https://developer.dji.com/doc/mobile-sdk-tutorial/en/basic-introduction/basic-concepts/missions.html

I've been thinking about setting up a mission for my drone to fly every week to gather data about what my neighborhood is like throughout the year.

[-] Zwiebel@feddit.org 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Well they used a camera to track features on the ground for navigating, but then flew into a sandy area with to few features and crashed xD To be fair it was never intended to leave the initially planned area in the first place. And they made the most out of it, the drone is now a lil weather station reporting temp and pressure

this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2025
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