NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has surpassed all expectations throughout its time on the purple planet, and in case you thought it was slowing down, assume once more. NASA simply despatched the robotic on its longest flight in nearly a yr, overlaying greater than a thousand toes of distance, to land at its twenty ninth impromptu airfield.
This was Ingenuity’s forty third flight since its arrival on Mars two (Earth) years in the past. The drone lifted off, reaching an altitude of 39 toes (12 meters), after which traveled 1,280 toes (390 meters) earlier than setting down. It took a complete of 146 seconds to fly from Airfield Gamma to Airfield Epsilon — NASA ran out of Latin letters early this yr, so it switched to Greek. Solely the primary location, Wright Brothers Area, had an actual title.
NASA hadn’t acquired up to date photos from Ingenuity when it introduced the information, so the tweet beneath options a picture from the forty second flight in early February. Uncooked photos from the newest flight are actually out there on NASA’s Ingenuity flight log page, however they haven’t been shade processed.
Ingenuity was designed as a expertise demonstration, using alongside to Mars connected to the stomach of the Perseverance rover. The helicopter was constructed utilizing primarily off-the-shelf elements, together with a Qualcomm smartphone processor. Most {hardware} deployed on Mars or in house needs to be designed to deal with the acute temperatures and radiation. The workforce didn’t anticipate Ingenuity to outlive very lengthy, definitely not past its first Martian winter, however right here we’re.
Ingenuity has accomplished Flight 43 – its longest flight in practically a yr! ?
The #MarsHelicopter traveled 1,280 ft (390 m) throughout the Martian floor for 145.99 seconds at a max. altitude of 40 ft (12 m). https://t.co/1CXIWdYIAQ pic.twitter.com/wxSVvSRcaN
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) February 16, 2023
You’d have to return to April 2022 to discover a longer Ingenuity flight, when the car flew simply over 2,300 toes (704 meters) between Airfields P and Q. That was earlier than winter took maintain, however Ingenuity continued to make shorter flights all through the season. Now that spring has arrived on Mars, the helicopter continues to be performing in addition to it did earlier than temperatures plummeted.
NASA has been so impressed with Ingenuity that it has up to date plans for the Mars Pattern Return undertaking to incorporate a pair of comparable autos. The eventual lander that can accumulate Perseverance’s rock cores will have two Ingenuity-style helicopters, which have changed the one rover beforehand deliberate for the mission. That mission is at the moment set for the late 2020s. If issues hold going the best way they’re, Ingenuity may nonetheless be flying by then.
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