NASA’s Mars Helicopter cleverness She did so again, successfully flying her 22nd flight to the Red Planet.
The 4-pound (1.8 kg) dex stayed high for 101.4 seconds and reached a maximum height of 33 feet (10 meters) during a sortie on Sunday (March 20), according to Monday (March 21). Tweet from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which operates the Ingenuity mission.
Ingenuity and NASA perseverance rover They landed together inside the Jezero Crater on Mars in February 2021. NASA officials said Jezero has hosted a lake and river delta for billions of years, making it a great place to search for life and store samples in perseverance to explore.
Related: One year later, the innovative helicopter is still going strong on Mars
The small helicopter quickly succeeded in its original five-flight mission, which was designed to show that aerial exploration is possible in Mars. After this success, NASA granted Ingenuity an extension of the mission, with the helicopter serving as the Perseverance Explorer.
Mission team members said rover handlers are currently directing Perseverance toward an easily accessible part of the ancient delta, and Ingenuity’s feedback helps them choose the best route.
During its first 21 flights, Ingenuity flew a total of 15,247 feet (4,647 meters) and stayed in the air for about 39 minutes, according to The expedition team keeps a log of the trip.
Those numbers should continue to grow beyond the additions made by Sunday’s flight; JPL officials said the creativity is healthy, and NASA recently extended helicopter operations again, During the month of September at least.
Mike Wall is the author of “AbroadBook (Great Grand Publishing House, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrials. Follow him on Twitter Tweet embed. Follow us on Twitter Tweet embed or on Facebook.
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