“We have appreciated the support provided by the Perseverance rover team during our technology and demonstration phase,” says MiMi Aung (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in a recent press release. Ingenuity sees its shadow during flight three. On Sol 66 (April 26 th), Perseverance drove 10 meters south of the Jakob van Zyl overlook, resuming its search for new science targets. NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover April 30, 2021 Typical photographer: lots of gear to juggle and mountains of files to upload! Newest pics at: /jpJHeDuQcA Quick preview of #MarsHelicopter’s Flight 4 takeoff below more pics and video yet to come. Just another day on Mars, shooting video of a flying helicopter. Ingenuity broke its own flight speed record on this flight, moving at a maximum of 3.5 meters per second (7.8 mph). The helicopter flew for 117 seconds, reached an altitude of 4.9 meters (16 feet), and ranged out over a round-trip of 266 meters to the south, snapping images along the way, before it returned to the Wright Brothers Field landing site. The flight was successful the very next day, on April 30th. NASA engineers fixed the glitch and re-uploaded the pre-flight program to the helicopter via the worldwide Deep Space Network. Mars is currently about 17 light-minutes distant, meaning the helicopter is on its own to carry out flights. Ingenuity was set to complete its fourth flight last Thursday, April 29th, before a software glitch caused the helicopter to fail to transition into flight mode. “Since Ingenuity remains in excellent health, we plan to use it to benefit future aerial platforms while prioritizing and moving forward with the Perseverance rover team’s near-term science goals.” “The Ingenuity technology demonstration has been a resounding success,” says associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen (NASA Science Mission Directorate) in a recent press release. Now, NASA announced on Friday that it will end the one-month demonstration phase for the intrepid helicopter, and extend its operational capabilities for at least another month. Since then, the helicopter has flown farther, higher, and faster on successive flights. On April 19, 2021, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history, with the first powered flight on another planet. Ingenuity on Sol 48, as imaged by Perseverance's left Mastcam-Z camera. Watch video - and audio! - of the successful fourth flight here: ![]() The fifth flight, too, was successful: a one-way trip 129 meters (423 feet) to the south of the Wright Brothers Field.
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