Mars helicopter shares first aerial color photo and preps for Sunday flight
Photo: Mars.Nasa.Gov
So this is what the view looks like when flying on Mars.
The Ingenuity helicopter captured its first color image from 17 feet (5.2 meters) above the Martian surface during its second flight on April 22. And now, it’s preparing for a third flight, scheduled for Sunday.
Ingenuity autonomously flew for almost 52 seconds during its second flight, climbing 16 feet (4.9 meters) up through the Martian atmosphere. After a brief hover, it tilted at a 5-degree angle and moved sideways for 7 feet (2.1 meters).
The helicopter hovered in place again to make three turns. This allowed Ingenuity’s color camera to capture images taken looking in different directions, before the chopper touched back down in the center of the airfield. Ingenuity only collected black-and-white images with its navigation camera during the first flight on April 19.
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NASA Ingenuity helicopter will test its limits tomorrow with second flight
Following its initial success, NASA is already planning a second flight with its Mars Ingenuity helicopter. The next flight, which will take place tomorrow, April 22, will take Ingenuity farther off the ground and tilt it sideways a bit to fly at an angle. NASA plans to share the results from the test flight on its Mars Perseverance website.
On April 19, the Ingenuity helicopter conducted its first flight on Mars, one that was a success and involved operating the aerial vehicle around 10ft above the ground. At that time, the helicopter merely rose in the air, hovered, turned, and then landed. Though the flight itself was minor, it represented a massive milestone for both the Perseverance mission and NASA’s experimental effort.