NASA Mars helicopter makes second-longest flight of mission

In April 2022, during the 25th flight to Mars, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter went further than ever before, covering 704 meters in length – a milestone never since achieved by the equipment. On the last flight, number 68, it came close to us, covering 702 meters of Martian soil.

The feat took place on Friday (15th), but the agency only released the flight data on Monday (19th).

Although the post from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) reports that the distance traveled was 705 meters, this is not what was stated in the flight record on the mission’s official website.

In fact, the original plan Flight 68 was expected to cover 828 m of terrain. In response to a follower, JPL explains that there has been a setback. “The weather in Jezero Crater turned out to be slightly colder than previously expected and required more energy for the helicopter heaters during the night. This left a little less energy available for flight.”

Flight 68 reached a top speed of 36 km/h, which is Ingenuity’s speed record, set last October. The duration was 131 seconds (16 seconds less than expected) and the helicopter rose 16 meters above the red earth of Mars.

So far Ingenuity has flown for more than 123 minutes, covering nearly 16km of Martian terrain, with no signs of degradation of its batteries or mechanical parts.

The 1.8kg solar-powered helicopter leaves its name in space aviation history, completing its $85 million mission with flying colors and still healthy enough to operate longer.

In his exploration work for the Perseverance rover on its longest and most ambitious tours, he helps the mission team plan routes and scopes of potential science targets.

A pioneer in some technologies and capabilities, Ingenuity has faced several challenges to demonstrate that the future is very favorable for aerial exploration on Mars.

“We have already begun early efforts to investigate how the Ingenuity helicopter or platforms similar to it act to do things like carry scientific payloads, how they can be fully self-sustaining, autonomous spacecraft that are not tethered to something like a rover to cover greater distances and access a variety of science targets,” said Jaakko Karras, deputy leader of Ingenuity operations at JPL, in an interview with the website Space.com.

He concludes with a message of hope. “Looking back in five or 10 years, we will see that this was the stepping stone, the precursor to bigger, bolder airborne exploration on Mars.”

The post NASA helicopter to Mars makes second-longest flight of mission appeared first on Olhar Digital.

Source: Olhar Digital