Ingenuity helicopters fly higher and faster than when tested on Earth.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CALIFORNIA – Helicopter Ingenuity managed to make the third flight on Planet Mars on Sunday (25/4) morning. Helicopters fly higher and faster than when tested on Earth.
At around 1:31 a.m. ET in the morning, the helicopter climbed 16 feet and flew for 164 feet during its third flight. Its total flight was 80 seconds, with a top speed of 6.6 feet per second.
“Today’s flight is what we planned, but it is truly amazing,” NASA’s Dave Lavery said in a statement. The Verge, Monday (26/4).
“With this flight, we demonstrate a critical capability that will allow additional dimensions of air for future Mars missions,” he said.
In its second mission on Thursday (22/4), Ingenuity made a 51.9 second flight, covering a distance of seven feet. For Ingenuity’s first flight on April 19, the tiny craft was lifted 10 feet from the surface of Mars for 39 seconds.
Ingenuity arrived on Mars on February 18 with its parent explorer, Perseverance. Its mission is to look for signs of life and take Martian soil samples. Although Ingenuity is not the main focus of the Perseverance mission, its ability to fly in the thin atmosphere of Mars will provide useful data for future exploration of Mars.
NASA said it was planning a fourth flight to Ingenuity in a few days.
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