What does MOXIE do?
The “toaster-size” mechanism sucks in the planet’s atmosphere and heats it to extreme temperatures of up to 800 degrees. Once all the air’s dust is filtered out, MOXIE strips the CO2 of its oxygen quantities, releasing the remaining carbon monoxide through a vent. With this comes the preservation of tiny new stores of oxygen.
“This is a critical first step at converting carbon dioxide to oxygen on Mars,” says Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
“MOXIE has more work to do, but the results from this technology demonstration are full of promise as we move toward our goal of one day seeing humans on Mars.
With this third flight in the history books, the Ingenuity Mars helicopter team is looking ahead to planning its fourth flight in a few days time. On its first flight, Ingenuity spent roughly 40 seconds off the ground, hovering just about three metres, while the second test went hire, closer to five metres, spending approximately one minute in the air.
The biggest difficulty in flying on the Red Planet is the extremely thin atmosphere, which has just one per cent of the density here on Earth, making it hard for the Ingenuity to get off the ground.
Also, the distance from Earth to Mars puts remote control out of question, as it takes radio waves over 16 minutes to cover the distance between the two planets. Instead, Ingenuity takes its commands from the Perseverance rover, the mission’s main robot.
NASA s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Flies Faster, Farther on Third Flight iconnect007.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iconnect007.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NASA s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Makes Successful Third Flight
PASADENA, CA – Nasa s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter completed its third successful flight on Mars Sunday.
According to a press release, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter continues to set records, flying faster and farther on Sunday, April 25, 2021 than in any tests it went through on Earth. The helicopter took off at 4:31 a.m. EDT (1:31 a.m. PDT), or 12:33 p.m. local Mars time, rising 16 feet (5 meters) – the same altitude as its second flight. Then it zipped downrange 164 feet (50 meters), just over half the length of a football field, reaching a top speed of 6.6 feet per second (2 meters per second).
Perseverance s Left Navcam Views Ingenuity During its Third Flight
: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter can be seen hovering during its third flight on April 25, 2021, as seen by the left Navigation Camera aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption ›
The craft’s April 25 flight was conducted at speeds and distances beyond what had ever been previously demonstrated, even in testing on Earth.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter continues to set records, flying faster and farther on Sunday, April 25, 2021 than in any tests it went through on Earth. The helicopter took off at 1:31 a.m. EDT (4:31 a.m. PDT), or 12:33 p.m. local Mars time, rising 16 feet (5 meters) – the same altitude as its second flight. Then it zipped downrange 164 feet (50 meters), almost half the length of a football field, reaching a top speed of 6.6 feet per second (2 meters per second).