The helicopter was given the command to rise to a height of 10 meters and move 150 meters southwestward at a speed of 4 meters per second. Further, the car was supposed to advance another 15 meters to the south, taking photographs of the area, and then another 50 meters to the northeast and land.
“Telemetry showed that the first 150-meter section of the flight passed without a hitch. But towards the end, there were small problems,” the message says.
But then something happened: Ingenuity began to lose, then pick up speed and sway. This continued until the very end of the flight. Before landing, which ended safely, the onboard sensors showed that the roll and pitch deviations of the helicopter were more than 20 degrees.
In general, NASA noted, the flight was successful. The device completed all the tasks assigned to it, despite the fact that it sank 5 meters from the target landing site.
As NASA technicians found out, about the 54th second of the flight, the helicopter’s onboard computer program malfunctioned, which led to the fact that the timer on the camera began to show the wrong time, affecting the helicopter’s navigation system. “Despite all these problems, Ingenuity has dealt with the situation. The information received will be analyzed to expand our understanding of how to fly to Mars,” the message says.
– .
