Ingenuity hopped a 3rd of a mile on the Crimson Planet because it shifted between airfields.
Ingenuity, the Mars helicopter drone accompanying the Perseverance rover mission, racked up its forty sixth flight on Saturday (Feb. 25), NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced (opens in new tab) yesterday (March 1).
The aim of the flight was to “reposition of the helicopter and [to] scout future airfields,” company officers wrote in a flight briefing (opens in new tab).
The drone flew for about 1,460 ft (445 meters) on the Martian floor between airfields “Eta” and “Theta,” based on the helicopter’s flight log (opens in new tab). Ingenuity reached a typical 39-foot altitude (12 meters) and achieved a high pace of 11.9 mph (5.3 meters per second) throughout the 135.9-second flight.
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Ingenuity is about to exceed its authentic five-flight manifest by 10 fold, because the four-pound (1.8 kg) shoots for its fiftieth flight within the coming weeks.
The helicopter was the primary ever to fly on Mars, arriving in Jezero Crater in February 2022 beneath the stomach of Perseverance. Now that it has confirmed itself indisputably to be totally operational, Ingenuity’s mandate has expanded to aiding Percy with the seek for historical life in Jezero Crater, the location of an historical river delta.
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NASA now plans to incorporate two pattern helicopters on a joint mission with the European Area Company to return samples from Mars. Percy is meant to deliver samples to the lander itself, however whether it is unable to, the 2 backup helicopters will choose up an identical lightsaber-shaped pattern tubes Percy has been caching on the surface.
Ingenuity and Perseverance alike are within the midst of an eight-month campaign, nicknamed “Delta Prime.” They’re working in a area that seems to have as soon as had a lake and a river delta which will have hosted life billions of years in the past.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a ebook about space drugs. Observe her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
