The small Inegenuity helicopter continues to make history on Mars, as it successfully completes its third flight, as planned by NASA. This Sunday device It made a flight at the same height of five meters as the second testBut this time it moved 50 meters. It also moved faster, reaching two meters per second.
The data collected from Ingenuity will be analyzed by the NASA team, in order to plan the helicopter’s upcoming flights, bearing in mind that it has been planned over the course of a month, since the start of its mission. These tests are still valid for the possibility of being displaced by the air on Mars, through the use of rotors.
“Today’s flight went as planned, and yet was amazing,” says one of the researchers and officials in the Ingenuity program, highlighting that the test showed critical capabilities that would allow the introduction of an aerial distance in future missions to Mars.
NASA reports that a Mastcam-Z equipped with the Perseverance spacecraft captured the video from the helicopter. Remember that the rover acts as an intermediary between communications from the ground base and the small helicopter. The full photos will arrive in the coming days only, revealing in more detail the journey that took about 80 seconds.
The team says it continues to push the boundaries of the helicopter, adding instructions for capturing its own photos, including the color camera that was first shown on the second flight. NASA explains that the greater the distance the device travels, the more images will be taken, but if it flies too quickly, its flight algorithm will not be able to keep up with the functions of the surface. Dust can darken images and interfere with camera performance.
NASA is now preparing for the fourth flight, which is scheduled to take place in the next few days, without expecting the new goals.