Tag: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter has now flown more than 50 times
NASA’s Perseverance rover glimpsed the Ingenuity helicopter earlier this month after the rotorcraft’s 50th flight. This view shows dust accumulation on the vehicle. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s pioneering Mars helicopter Ingenuity continues to outperform its design specifications, having now notched up more than 50 record-breaking forays across the Red Planet’s surface, 10 times as many flights…
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NASA cites Falcon flight heritage to select SpaceX to launch Europa Clipper
On Friday, July 23, NASA announced that SpaceX was the winner of a commercial procurement to launch the Europa Clipper mission, which will closely study the icy Galilean moon of Jupiter in search of signs of life and/or ongoing geological activity. The mission is due to launch no earlier than October 2024. SpaceX’s heavy-lift Falcon…
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NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter aces first longer-range flight on Mars
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated April 28 with new color image showing the Perseverance rover. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flew farther and faster Sunday than the rotorcraft’s first two test flights in the Martian atmosphere, traveling the length of a football field while exceeding distances and speeds achieved during testing on Earth, officials said. On Sunday’s test flight, the…
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NASA’s Mars helicopter completes second, higher flight
This is the first color image of the Martian surface taken by an aerial vehicle while it was aloft. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured it with its color camera during its second successful flight test on April 22, 2021. At the time this image, Ingenuity was 17 feet (5.2 meters) above the surface and pitching…
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In another first, NASA’s Perseverance rover generates oxygen on Mars
This view from the Perseverance rover’s navigation cameras shows the “Mars 2020” and “Perseverance” name plates on the vehicle’s robotic arm. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech In another first, an instrument inside NASA’s Perseverance rover has made oxygen out of carbon dioxide sucked in from the atmosphere of Mars, officials said Wednesday. The technology could help future astronauts…
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NASA celebrates first historic helicopter flight on Mars
A navigation camera on NASA’s Perseverance rover captured this view of the Ingenuity helicopter’s historic flight Monday. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech An automated mini-helicopter driven by two fast-spinning, counter-rotating rotors took off from the surface of Mars, hovered for 30 seconds, then successfully landed Monday to complete the historic first powered flight of an aircraft on another…
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After successful first flight, NASA wants to push Mars helicopter to its limits
The work isn’t over for NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter. Engineers hope to fly the rotorcraft four more times in the next two weeks before calling it quits on the pioneering technology experiment, which accomplished the first powered flight of an aircraft on another planet Monday. As officials celebrated the helicopter’s historic flight, teams were…
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NASA Ingenuity completes autonomous flight on Mars
For the first time ever, non-rocket powered flight has been achieved on a body other than Earth. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, part of the Mars 2020 mission, completed its first flight on Monday 19 April. The vehicle lifted off at 12:34 AM PDT (07:34 UTC) and flew for 39.1 seconds. Flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion…
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Live coverage: NASA confirms successful first flight of Mars helicopter
Live coverage of the the Ingenuity helicopter’s flight test campaign on Mars. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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NASA schedules first Mars helicopter test flight for Monday
After some long-distance troubleshooting, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter will attempt the first flight of its kind on another world Monday in a demonstration that could open the door to a new era of interplanetary aerial scouts. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California uplinked commands for Ingenuity’s test flight Sunday, setting the stage for…