The Ingenuity helicopter made its fifth flight for the first time to a new location on Mars. This was announced by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), writes BGNES.
The flight started at (23:26 Bulgarian time) and lasted 108 seconds. During this time, the vehicle moved 129 meters south, rising to a maximum height of 10 meters. It also took high quality color photos before landing.
New sounds from Mars: Our @NASAPersevere rover caught the beats coming from our Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter! This marks the first time a spacecraft on another planet has recorded the sounds of a separate spacecraft.
Turn the volume up: https://t.co/o7zG6mQJzx pic.twitter.com/s8Hm3dhcgg
– NASA (@NASA) May 7, 2021
During the previous four flights, the helicopter always returned to the launch site.
“Our further plan is to relocate Ingenuity so that it does not slow down the pace of scientific operations. ‘We can do a few more flights in the coming weeks and then NASA will evaluate the results,'” said Bob Balaram.
In addition, NASA announced that during the fourth flight of Ingenuity, the rover Perseverance for the first time was able to record the sound of the blades of the propeller. Experts were not sure that they would be able to capture the sound in the audio recording due to the diluted atmosphere of the planet.
Excelsior! The #MarsHelicopter completed its 1st one-way trip and 5th flight on Mars. It touched down at its new location, kicking off a new demo phase where we test this new tech and see how it can aid future missions on Mars and other worlds. https://t.co/TNCdXWcKWE pic.twitter.com/YwxIjupbQI
– NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 8, 2021
“It’s a very good surprise … This record will become a gold mine for our understanding of the Martian atmosphere,” said David Mimoun, a professor at ISAE-Supaero University in Toulouse, France.
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