![]() Ingenuity's first flight was planned for April 11, however, it was postponed after the chopper failed to successfully execute a planned high-speed spin-up test of the rotors on April 9. Temperatures at the Jezero Crater, just north of the equator, plunge to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius), which would have cracked the chopper's exposed electronics. That was necessary so Ingenuity could run its internal heaters to survive in the chilling Martian night. Next, it had to be unlocked and deployed on the Martian surface while Perseverance drove away fast enough to ensure it didn't cast a shadow over Ingenuity that would have prevented the aircraft's solar panels charging up. Tucked under the belly of the Perseverance rover, Ingenuity's first goal was to withstand launch from Earth, the cruise through space, and landing on Mars. ![]() NASA is already preparing to send Dragonfly, a much larger rotorcraft-lander, to Saturn's icy moon Titan where it will fly multiple sorties in search of extraterrestrial life.ĭragonfly launches in 2026 and should reach its destination by 2034. ![]() It is hoped that one day, future aircraft can help revolutionize exploration of celestial bodies by going further and faster than rovers, and reaching areas hard to access by land. Previous technology demonstrations include the Mars Pathfinder rover, Sojourner, which was the first ever rover to explore another planet in 1997. Ingenuity is not gathering scientific data about Mars or aiding in the search for past microbial life. While it does have the capacity to fly for 90 seconds and cover a distance of up to 980 feet (300 meters), its test runs are intentionally of limited scope as they are meant to prove only that the technology works. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.The rotorcraft's first flight lasted 39.1 seconds as Ingenuity lifted itself to a height of 10 feet (three meters) and then returned to the Martian surface. Those numbers should continue to grow beyond the additions provided by Sunday’s flight Ingenuity is in good health, JPL officials have said, and NASA recently extended the helicopter’s operations again, through at least this September.Ĭopyright 2022, a Future company. The rover’s handlers are currently steering Perseverance toward an accessible part of the ancient delta, and Ingenuity’s observations are helping them pick the best route, mission team members have said.ĭuring its first 21 flights, Ingenuity flew a total of 15,247 feet (4,647 m) and stayed in the air for nearly 39 minutes, according to a flight log maintained by the mission team. ![]() After this success, NASA granted Ingenuity a mission extension, during which the rotorcraft has been serving as a scout for Perseverance. ![]() The little chopper quickly aced its five-flight original mission, which was designed to show that aerial exploration is possible on Mars. Jezero hosted a lake and a river delta billions of years ago, making it a great spot for the life-hunting, sample-caching Perseverance to explore, NASA officials have said. Ingenuity and NASA’s Perseverance rover landed together inside Mars’ Jezero Crater in February 2021. The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity stayed aloft for 101.4 seconds and reached a maximum altitude of 33 feet (10 meters) during the sortie, which took place on Sunday (March 20), according to a Monday (March 21) tweet by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which manages Ingenuity’s mission. NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity has done it again, soaring successfully on its 22nd Red Planet flight. ![]()
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