NASA’S INGENUITY MARS HELICOPTER RECORDS ONE OF ITS FLIGHTS

On its 25th flight, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flew 404 meters with a speed of 5.5 meter per second; it was the longest and fastest flight to date.

​According to the recent video, the Ingenuity helicopter reached its highest speed, as well as the longest distance flown so far.“For our record-breaking flight, Ingenuity’s downward-looking navigation camera provided us with a breathtaking sense of what it would feel like gliding 33 feet above the surface of Mars at 12 miles per hour,” said Ingenuity team lead Teddy Tzanetos of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

​Although the video begins one second into the flight, the entire flight path can be seen. Upon reaching an altitude of 10 meters, the helicopter takes off in a southwesterly direction and begins to accelerate to full speed in just three seconds!

At the beginning of the video, several sand dunes can be seen, followed by large fields of rocks; finally a relatively flat and featureless terrain appears, this is where the helicopter lands. The video has a duration of 161.3 seconds, although it was accelerated five times to have a short 35-second clip.

​In the final part of each flight, the installed camera is deactivated automatically when the helicopter is less than one meter from the ground, in order to protect the navigation system from dust and other materials.

​Another aspect to highlight is that the flights are autonomous; they do not need to be operated during the flight. The flight orders are transmitted through the Perseverance Rover, which in turn receives the indications from Earth. On each flight, the helicopter performs a real-time analysis through its navigation camera, an inertial measurement unit and a laser rangefinder.

Recently there were some communication problems between the helicopter's controllers, caused by low battery status; however, this problem was solved thanks to the solar panels installed on its body, which allowed a successful battery charge. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is now ready for its next mission.

​The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which also manages the project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity’s development. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. Lockheed Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System.