Nasa’s Ingenuity makes history with first controlled flight on Mars
Nasa’s Ingenuity makes history with first controlled flight on Mars (Nasa/JPL-Caltech)
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Nasa’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter has completed the first powered, controlled flight on another planet, the space agency has announced.
The small helicopter successfully took flight on the red planet on Monday, hovering in the air at about 10 feet (three metres), before descending and touching back down on the Martian surface.
Today
Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to cloudy skies and rain during the afternoon. Morning high of 56F with temps falling to near 40. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%..
Tonight
Snow this evening will taper off to light snow late. Low 18F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 100%. 3 to 5 inches of snow expected. Updated: April 19, 2021 @ 9:58 am
NASA just made history by flying an autonomous helicopter on Mars
The tiny chopper flew over the red planet on Monday morning
NASA has made history after successfully conducting the first-ever controlled flight on another planet.
The space agencyâs Ingenuity helicopter briefly flew over Mars this morning, in what NASA previously described as a âWright Brothersâ moment.
The 1.8 kg chopper ascended three meters above the red planet, hovered for around 30 seconds, made a turn, and then touched back down on the Martian surface.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The autonomous drone arrived on Mars inside NASAâs Perseverance rover on February 18. It was slated to make its first experimental flight on April 11, but the launch was twice postponed due to technical issues.
NASA’s
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured this shot as it hovered over the Martian surface on April 19, 2021, during the first instance of powered, controlled flight on another planet. It used its navigation camera, which autonomously tracks the ground during flight. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
On April 19, NASA’s composites-intensive
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The
Ingenuity team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, La Cañada Flintridge, Calif., U.S.) confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving data from the helicopter via NASA’s
Perseverance Mars rover at 6:46 a.m. EDT (3:46 a.m. PDT).