NASA’s Mars helicopter went up once more, going quicker and touring a complete distance that was concerning the size of an American soccer subject on its third journey by way of the wispy air of Mars.
Like the primary two flights, the small experimental flying robotic, named Ingenuity, completely executed its directions from Earth. At 1:31 a.m. Japanese time — 12:33 p.m. native Mars time — it lifted 16 ft off the bottom, then flew a round-trip distance of 328 ft earlier than touchdown again the place it began.
That was about 25 instances so far as the second flight flew three days in the past. The helicopter reached a prime pace of 4.5 miles per hour, and the flight lasted about one minute and 20 seconds.
The flight was a take a look at of the helicopter’s navigation system, which visually retains observe of its location by evaluating floor options recorded by its onboard digital camera. The farther it traveled, the extra pictures its digital camera needed to take to recollect the panorama under. If it flew too quick, the helicopter may lose observe of the place it was.
“That is the primary time we’ve seen the algorithm for the digital camera working over a protracted distance,” MiMi Aung, the helicopter’s undertaking supervisor, mentioned in a NASA information launch. “You’ll be able to’t do that inside a take a look at chamber.”
Ingenuity, about 1.6 ft tall, is an $85 million undertaking to display that managed flight, like an airplane or a helicopter, is possible on Mars, the place the environment on the floor is simply 1 p.c of Earth’s.
It was tacked on to Perseverance, NASA’s newest Mars rover, which arrived on the crimson planet in February. Earlier than Perseverance heads off on its most important mission — to hunt hints of historic life in a dried-up river delta — the Ingenuity workforce has 30 Martian days, or about 31 Earth days, to finish 5 take a look at flights of the helicopter.
“At the moment’s flight was what we deliberate for, and but it was nothing wanting superb,” mentioned Dave Lavery, the helicopter undertaking’s program government. “With this flight, we’re demonstrating essential capabilities that can allow the addition of an aerial dimension to future Mars missions.”
Final Monday, Ingenuity made historical past as the primary powered plane to fly on one other planet. The primary flight was a brief one: a easy up-and-down that totaled 39.1 seconds off the bottom. The second flight, on Thursday, went a bit larger and made a brief lateral transfer.
With the success of the primary three flights, the helicopter’s engineers have a bit greater than per week to finish the ultimate two, which can additional push Ingenuity’s capabilities. Ms. Aung, the undertaking’s supervisor, mentioned after the primary flight final week that she hoped the ultimate one would journey so far as some 2,300 ft from its start line.
The fourth flight will take off in a number of days, NASA mentioned.
There are at present no plans to place a second helicopter on Mars. However Bob Balaram, the undertaking’s chief engineer, mentioned he and his colleagues had begun sketching out designs for a bigger Mars helicopter able to carrying some 10 kilos of science tools.
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