
Mars Ingenuity flight delayed after rotor test fails
April 10 (UPI) -- NASA has delayed the first flight of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter until at least Wednesday. The agency announced the delay in a Saturday news release after a high-speed test of the helicopter's rotors abruptly stopped Friday. Advertisement The drone's watchdog timer expired as it was trying to transition the flight computer from "pre-flight" to "flight" mode, according to NASA. The watchdog timer oversees the command sequences and alerts the system to any potential problems, preventing the system from proceeding when an issue is detected. NASA described the helicopter as "safe and healthy" and said the Ingenuity Mars' team is reviewing telemetry to diagnose and understand the full-speed test. Friday's test was the last major one before the helicopter's first scheduled f...