NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has completed another safe flight on Mars, this time travelling 1,250ft in preparation for a series of reconnaissance missions for the Perseverance rover.
It will help the car-sized vehicle in its search for ancient microbial life on the Red Planet by scouting out locations in a rugged area of terrain.
Ingenuity flew for a little over two minutes before landing in a region scientists have dubbed South Séítah, a patch of ground on the floor of Mars’ Jezero Crater which has sandy ripples that NASA scientists fear could be very challenging for the rover.
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Diagram showing the different components of Ingenuity. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the technology demonstration for NASA Headquarters
Photo of NASA ‘s Ingenuity helicopter taken during its tenth flight. NASA said it was the ‘most complex’ flight yet
It took off for its 11th flight on the Red Planet at around 12:30pm local time (05:50 BST and 12:50 ET) on Thursday (August 5).
The helicopter was due to climb to an altitude of 39ft (12m) and reach speeds of 11 mph, but the mission team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California are yet to confirm these details.
In a tweet, JPL said: ‘#MarsHelicopter has safely flown to a new location! Ingenuity flew for 130.9 seconds and traveled about 380 meters before landing at a spot that will set up a series of future reconnaissance flights to help @NASAPersevere in its search for ancient microbial life.’
Perseverance is currently heading south from its landing spot on the Jezero Crater, while Ingenuity is scouting locations to help it plot its way on the ground.
Ingenuity arrived on Mars attached to the belly of Perseverance, which touched down on Mars on February 18 after a nearly seven-month journey through space.
Perseverance made its first test drive on Mars on March 4, and on April 4, NASA confirmed that Ingenuity had been dropped to the surface of Mars from Perseverance’s ‘belly’ in preparation for its historic flight.
NASA also said on April 5 that Ingenuity had survived its first night on the Martian surface – a major milestone because surface temperatures can plunge as low as -130°F (-90°C).
The helicopter, which is just 18-inches tall, made its first flight on April 19, 2021, making history as the first powered controlled flight on any planet other than Earth.
In a nod to this feat, Ingenuity carries a small amount of fabric that covered one of the wings of the Wright brothers’ aircraft, known as the Flyer, during the first powered, controlled flight on Earth in 1903.
For the first flight, Ingenuity took off, climbed to about 10 feet (3 meters) above the ground, hovered in the air briefly, completed a turn and then landed.
After that, the helicopter successfully performed additional experimental flights of incrementally farther distance and greater altitude, culminating with the tenth flight on July 24.
The first five flights throughout April and May were part of a ‘technical demonstration’ to prove something could fly on Mars.
The subsequent flights formed part of an extended mission support role, helping Perseverance.
During its sixth flight on May 23, Ingenuity experienced a bit of a wobble due to some ‘unexpected motion’ in the final few feet.
This motion was from an ‘image processing issue’ but it ‘muscled through’, NASA JPL tweeted at the time.
The Jezero Crater (pictured) is an ancient river delta that seems a logical spot for somewhere that once harboured life