28 MAY 2021
During its sixth flight on the red planet, the Ingenuity helicopter experienced a little mishap - but, thanks to planning and built-in failsafes, it survived to fly another day.
This is actually great news, because it demonstrates the multiple ways in which the vehicle is robust to errors - as well as giving engineers here at home an opportunity to patch them.
The event took place on 22 May 2021 - the 91st Martian day of the Perseverance mission. The sky was clear and bright, perfect for Ingenuity s task: demonstrating its ability to take aerial stereo images.
The little helicopter was to vertically ascend to a height of 10 meters (33 feet), then make a horizontal flight of three legs - southwest for 150 meters, at which point it would turn and move 15 meters in a southward direction while taking images, before turning northeast and flying for another 50 meters before landing, all at a speed of about 4 meters per second (8.9 mph).
A spherical unidentified flying object (UFO) hovers in midair, moves side to side like a ball in the "Pong" video game and then seems to dive into the ocean, in footage that was recently released online by a filmmaker who produces documentaries a