NASA's Perseverance hasn't just been working as camera-rover for the Insight Mars helicopter, but also capturing audio of the historic aircraft as it flies above the red planet's surface, the space agency has revealed. During Ingenuity's fourth flight, which took place at the end of April, Perseverance was both capturing video and audio, which NASA has released today.
NASA's Ingenuity may have seen some delays in its fourth flight, but with that safely under its belt the Mars helicopter's next big missions have been revealed. The fourth mission for the historic aircraft was its most ambitious yet, tapping its dual cameras to underscore how valuable an eye in the sky could be to future space missions. Still, even more adventures alongside the Perseverance rover are yet to come, NASA has confirmed.
NASA's Perseverance has been acting as remote camera operator for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's three flights, but the tables were turned on the latest launch when the historic aircraft snapped a shot in return. Though Ingenuity isn't designed to carry any science experiments - proving the helicopter can fly on Mars is itself the big test - it does have a camera onboard.
As anticipated, NASA recently conducted a second flight involving its Ingenuity helicopter that arrived on Mars with the Perseverance rover. The second flight was as successful as the first, and now the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is back with details about its third planned flight involving the tiny copter. This time around, Ingenuity will go on a 330ft trip.
NASA has released video of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter's second flight, a more ambitious test as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory team experiments with just what's possible for powered aircraft on other planets. The test took place on April 22, adding several new elements to the flight-plan compared to the history first attempt made back on April 19.
The Mars helicopter has successfully completed its second flight, with Ingenuity cranking up the challenge as NASA expands its historic testing. This latest launch, which took place early in the morning on April 22, almost doubled the flight time compared to Monday's first attempt, with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory team taking advantage of that to throw in some extra maneuvers.
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.
NASA has released a new, enhanced video of the Mars Ingenuity helicopter making its historic first flight earlier this week, showing the dramatic takeoff as it kicked up Martian dust while making its way into the record books. The first flight test of Ingenuity took place on Monday, April 19, and saw the helicopter launch, hover for around 30 seconds, and then safely land again.
NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter successfully took off from the surface of the red planet, hovered, and then landed safely again today, the first example of powered, controlled flight on another planet. The historic experiment is the culmination of a wild ride for Ingenuity, tucked against the belly of the Mars Perseverance rover until it was carefully lowered to the planet's surface earlier this month.
As NASA had previously detailed, the Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in mid-February, is equipped with a system called the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA). This tool is designed to gather local 'weather reports' from the Perseverance rover's location in the Jezero Crater, then send the data back to people on Earth. This week marked the first delivery of such a report.
NASA's Mars Helicopter has survived its first night standing, alone, on the surface of Mars, and it's more than just parental concern that had engineers back on Earth worrying about Ingenuity. Deployed from the underbelly of the Perseverance rover on Sunday, the helicopter may not have made its first, record-setting flight yet, but even just getting through to this morning unscathed is an achievement.
Did you know that pieces of the original history-making Wright Brothers' "1903 Wright Flyer I" have orbited the Earth and been to moon? Now, NASA collaborated with Carillon Historical Park and the Wright Brothers National Museum to send another piece of the flyer to Mars to take part in another of humanity's historical achievements. The Perseverance rover rolls on Mars now, holding the helicopter craft Ingenuity, onboard which is a piece of the Wright Flyer I's wing fabric.