Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Reaches Record Altitude on 35th Flight

NASA designed the Ingenuity helicopter to be a mere technology demonstration, using alongside with the Perseverance rover when it headed off to Mars in 2020. It was not even envisioned to survive its initially winter, but right now, the drone has done 35 flights on the red world and attained its optimum altitude nonetheless.

Mars has an ambiance, but it is considerably less than a single % as dense as Earth’s and composed largely of carbon dioxide. Having said that, it is doable to fly on Mars with the proper style concerns. Ingenuity has a mass of 1.8 kilograms — that implies it weighs 4 pounds on Earth but just 1.5 pounds on Mars. Its large 4-foot (1.2-meter) rotors give it adequate raise to zip by way of the air on Mars.

Ingenuity rode to Mars mounted to the underside of Perseverance and was deployed on the surface soon right after landing. NASA finished the very first Ingenuity flight in April 2021, and the helicopter has long gone on to go over much more than 4 and a half miles (above 7 kilometers) of length throughout its 35 flights, with a complete flight time just shy of an hour. In its most the latest flight over the weekend, Ingenuity lifted off from Airfield X and set down in the same region just 49 feet (15 meters) away. On the other hand, the 52-second flight brought the robotic to a report altitude of 46 feet (14 meters).

An all-time large for the #MarsHelicopter!
Ingenuity done Flight 35 in excess of the weekend and established a new max altitude document, hitting 46 ft (14 meters) above the Martian surface. See more stats in the flight log: https://t.co/7DMHj9LkNX pic.twitter.com/qAj5H9Z68C

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) December 6, 2022

NASA has lengthy considering the fact that moved past the engineering demonstration stage of Ingenuity’s mission. It now makes use of the drone to acquire data to enhance long run Mars helicopters and scout terrain for the Perseverance rover. The group even pushed a application update to Ingenuity late very last month to add enhanced hazard avoidance and navigation functions.

Ingenuity’s accomplishment could alter the way we take a look at Mars. Contrary to Perseverance, which was created from the ground up with hardened, place-worthy components, Ingenuity is composed of off-the-shelf parts, like a Snapdragon 801 smartphone processor. And it is nevertheless kicking just after all this time. In actuality, NASA has presently began organizing its future aerial experience on Mars. The approaching Mars Sample Return mission was intended to include a rover, but NASA recently dropped the rover and added a pair of helicopters primarily based on Ingenuity’s style. The sample return mission will launch in the late 2020s, and the samples could be back on Earth in 2033.

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