There are challenges for the helicopter on Mars. The "Little Chopper that Could" has lost its sense of direction due to a failed instrument. It was designed to only make a few flights. It is hard to stay warm now that winter is upon us. One of its navigation sensors is no longer functioning. This isn't the end of the world. A navigation sensor that isn't working sounds like a big deal but it's not an end to our flying at Mars. The controllers have different options.
Ingenuity has a lot of redundant systems. The IMU is used to measure the rates of ascent and descent in three different directions. A laser is used to measure the distance to the ground. The helicopter has a camera. It shows the location of Ingenuity on the ground or in the air. The data from the instruments is taken and used by the program. It needs to know how the chopper rolls and pitches.
The team had to figure out a way to impersonate the instrument. They applied a patch to the code. It intercepts data and replaces it with better data. The flight controllers tricked the copter into thinking the data they got from the inclinometer was their own.
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