NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter has taken to alien skies but once more.
The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity carried out its fifty fifth flight on Aug. 12, protecting a good bit of Crimson Planet floor within the course of.
“Ingenuity has now efficiently flown on Mars 55 occasions! On its newest flight, the #MarsHelicopter flew 866 toes (264 m) for 143 seconds at a top of 32.8 toes (10 m),” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which manages the little chopper’s mission, wrote via X (previously Twitter) on Wednesday (Aug. 16).
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These figures aren’t data for the rotorcraft, by the way in which: Ingenuity has reached a most altitude of 59 toes (18 m), and it flew a whopping 2,310 toes (704 m) horizontally on one among its sorties.
Ingenuity has now coated a complete of 41,024 toes (12,503 m) of floor and stayed aloft for almost 98 minutes on its 55 flights, mission workforce members wrote on the chopper’s flight log.
Ingenuity landed on the ground of Mars’ Jezero Crater in February 2021 together with NASA’s Perseverance rover. The chopper’s major aim was to indicate that aerial exploration is feasible on Mars regardless of the planet’s skinny ambiance.
Ingenuity did simply that over the course of 5 flights in April and early Could of 2021. NASA then granted an prolonged mission, throughout which the helicopter is serving as a scout for the life-hunting, sample-caching Perseverance.
The little drone’s success may result in an additional opening of the Crimson Planet’s skies. NASA plans to ship two Ingenuity-like helicopters to Mars later this decade, to assist accumulate Perseverance’s samples (if essential) for a deliberate return to Earth.
The company additionally goals to develop greater and extra bold Mars helicopters, which may collect a wide range of scientific information on their very own whereas exploring the planet’s skies.
