{"id":11721,"date":"2021-04-25T23:06:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T15:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-aces-first-longer-range-flight-on-mars\/"},"modified":"2021-04-25T23:06:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T15:06:01","slug":"nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-aces-first-longer-range-flight-on-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-aces-first-longer-range-flight-on-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Ingenuity helicopter aces first longer-range flight on Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:<\/strong>&nbsp;Updated April 28 with new color image showing the Perseverance rover.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kNx9hcrUpww\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s Ingenuity helicopter flew farther and faster Sunday than the rotorcraft\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday\u2019s test flight, the diminutive rotor-driven drone flew a distance of some 164 feet (50 meters) from its takeoff location, then returned to the same flat patch of Martian terrain for a controlled landing, logging around 330 feet of distance traveled in about 80 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Like Ingenuity\u2019s previous two test flights, the helicopter took off at midday local time on Mars. Because the length of the Martian day is nearly 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth, the flight times are getting earlier in Earth time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_51413\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51413\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-51413\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rover-color.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"890\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rover-color.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rover-color-300x223.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rover-color-768x570.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rover-color-678x503.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rover-color-80x60.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-51413\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover is visible in the upper left corner of this image the agency\u2019s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took during its third flight, on April 25. The helicopter was flying at an altitude of 16 feet (5 meters) and roughly 279 feet (85 meters) from the rover at the time. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The helicopter\u2019s third flight began at 4:31 a.m. EDT (0831 GMT) with a climb to about 16 feet (5 meters), the same altitude achieved on Ingenuity\u2019s second flight last week. But instead of a lateral move of just a few feet, the helicopter flew downrange 164 feet and reached a top speed of nearly 4.5 mph (2 meters per second), according to NASA.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s farther and faster than the helicopter could fly inside NASA\u2019s test chamber on Earth, which engineers used to simulate the rarefied carbon dioxide atmosphere of Mars.<\/p>\n<p>Data confirming the successful flight arrived at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California at 10:16 a.m. EDT (1416 GMT) Sunday, following a relay route from the Ingenuity helicopter through a wireless base station on the Perseverance rover, then to an orbiting spacecraft high above Mars, which transmitted the telemetry back to Earth.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_51414\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51414\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-51414\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1044_PIA24625_-_Figure_B.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1044_PIA24625_-_Figure_B.jpeg 307w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1044_PIA24625_-_Figure_B-211x300.jpeg 211w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-51414\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A close-up of the Perseverance rover as seen from the Ingenuity helicopter. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s flight was what we planned for, and yet it was nothing short of amazing,\u201d said Dave Lavery, the project\u2019s program executive for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at NASA Headquarters in Washington. \u201cWith this flight, we are demonstrating critical capabilities that will enable the addition of an aerial dimension to future Mars missions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Engineers are analyzing the data as they develop plans for a fourth test flight in the coming days. MiMi Aung, Ingenuity\u2019s project manager at JPL, said last week that engineers may attempt more daring long-range flights to push the helicopter to its limits.<\/p>\n<p>Aung suggested she would like to see a flight traveling up to 600 or 700 meters, or more than a third of a mile. The helicopter uses &nbsp;a laser altimeter and a black and white camera to determine its altitude and position relative to the Martian landscape.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_51333\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51333\" style=\"width: 1280px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-51333\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/heli3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/heli3.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/heli3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/heli3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/heli3-678x509.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/heli3-326x245.jpg 326w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/heli3-80x60.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-51333\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A navigation camera on NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover took this picture of the Ingenuity helicopter on its third flight Sunday. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The helicopter also needs to stay in range of the base station on the Perseverance rover, which released the rotorcraft onto the surface of Mars earlier this month. Perseverance landed on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, with a primary goal of locating and sampling rocks that might contain evidence of ancient life.<\/p>\n<p>The Ingenuity helicopter is a technology demonstration, and its mission is secondary to Perseverance\u2019s top science goal. Managers set aside a month of Perseverance\u2019s time to support the Ingenuity flight demonstrations.<\/p>\n<p>The rover is parked about 211 feet (64 meters) from the helicopter\u2019s makeshift \u201cairfield,\u201d which NASA dubbed Wright Brothers Field following Ingenuity\u2019s first historic flight of an aircraft in the atmosphere of another planet.<\/p>\n<p>Like the helicopter\u2019s two prior flights, Perseverance\u2019s mast camera system recorded video of Ingenuity\u2019s traverse through the Martian atmosphere Sunday. This time, Ingenuity flew out of the rover\u2019s camera field of view before returning for landing.<\/p>\n<p>The helicopter\u2019s body is about the size of a tissue box, with dual counter-rotating rotor blades spanning around 4 feet (1.2 meters) tip-to-tip. The craft weighed about 4 pounds in Earth\u2019s gravity \u2014 equivalent to 1.8 kilograms \u2014 and weighs about 1.5 pounds in the weaker gravity of Mars.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_51334\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51334\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-51334\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/2-PIA24623ncam_flight30000000.pbin_.width-640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/2-PIA24623ncam_flight30000000.pbin_.width-640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/2-PIA24623ncam_flight30000000.pbin_.width-640-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/2-PIA24623ncam_flight30000000.pbin_.width-640-326x245.jpg 326w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/2-PIA24623ncam_flight30000000.pbin_.width-640-80x60.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-51334\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A black and white navigation camera on the Ingenuity helicopter captured this view of its shadow on a test flight Sunday. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ingenuity\u2019s longer flights require the helicopter to take more pictures with its back and white navigation camera. The imagery feeds into the helicopter\u2019s flight computer, which uses a software algorithm to make corrections to the craft\u2019s trajectory up to 500 times every second.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve seen the algorithm for the camera running over a long distance,\u201d Aung said in a statement. \u201cYou can\u2019t do this inside a test chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In order to handle the demands of autonomous flying, the Qualcomm processor on-board Ingenuity has at least an order of magnitude the computer power of the unit on the Perseverance rover, NASA officials said.<\/p>\n<p>While the helicopter\u2019s down-facing black and white camera tracks terrain features, a camera pointing toward the horizon snaps aerial photos in color.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:&nbsp;Updated April 28 with new color image showing the Perseverance rover. NASA\u2019s Ingenuity helicopter flew farther and faster Sunday than the rotorcraft\u2019s 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\u2019s test flight, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1630,1183,1631,367,1761,1632,190,1633],"class_list":["post-11721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ingenuity","tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","tag-jezero-crater","tag-mars","tag-mars-2020","tag-mars-helicopter","tag-nasa","tag-perseverance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11721"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}