Ingenuity takes its longest flight

The Creativity Helicopter, which has exceeded expectations on Mars, is preparing for its 29th flight on the Red Planet. Before taking to the skies above the surface of the Red Planet again, the quadcopter transmitted a video of its longest and fastest flight.

On April 8, the Ingenuity helicopter, which broke the record number 25 in its flight, traveled a record distance of 704 meters while flying at a speed of 5.5 meters per second.

“On our record-breaking flight, the Ingenuity down navigation camera gave us an incredible sense of what it would be like to slide 33 feet over the surface of Mars at 12 miles per hour,” said Teddy Zanitos, Creative Team Leader, in a statement. .

The black-and-white video was captured by the quad-copter’s navigation camera, which kicks off a second after the flight. Having reached a height of 10 meters, the helicopter turns to the south-west, accelerates and reaches a maximum speed in less than three seconds. The ship first flies over a group of sand ripples and then arrives at several rocky fields.

The 161.3-second flight video clip was sped up nearly five times, reducing it to under 35 seconds. NASA has announced that the navigation camera has been programmed to disable it when the spacecraft is less than a meter from the surface. This procedure helps ensure that no dust spread during take-off and landing will interfere with the navigation system as it tracks features on the ground.

“On our record-breaking flight, Ingenuity’s navigation camera gave us the sense of sliding 33 feet over the surface of Mars at 12 miles per hour,” said Creative Team Leader Teddy Zanitos of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

After more than a year on Mars, the Quadcopter mission has been extended. NASA has extended Operation Ingenuity Helicopter on Mars through September, where it will support the Perseverance Rover in its science operations trying to search for evidence of ancient microbial life in rugged terrain.

source: NASA