NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter gearing up for longest flight ever this weekend

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is poised to set but some other report this weekend.The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity, the primary robotic ever to discover the skies of an international past Earth, is scheduled to make its 68th Pink Planet flight on Saturday (Dec. 9).The plan requires Ingenuity to hide 2,717 ft (828 meters) of Mars floor — greater than half of one mile — all the way through the sortie, venture staff participants wrote in a preview lately (Dec. 8). That is significantly farther than the helicopter’s present distance report of two,310 ft (704 m), which used to be set in April 2022, on its twenty fifth flight.Comparable: Mars helicopter Ingenuity telephones house, breaking 63-day silenceIngenuity landed at the ground of Mars’ Jezero Crater with NASA’s Perseverance rover in February 2021, tasked with appearing that aerial exploration is conceivable on Mars in spite of the planet’s skinny surroundings. The little rotorcraft did simply that over the route of 5 flights all the way through the spring of 2021, then used to be granted a longer venture that continues to these days. Ingenuity is now serving as a scout for Perseverance, which is looking for indicators of historic Mars existence and gathering samples for long term go back to Earth.Saturday’s deliberate flight will goal a most sensible pace of twenty-two.4 mph (36 kph), venture staff participants wrote within the preview. That may tie Ingenuity’s speed report, which used to be set this previous October. The approaching hop will closing 147 seconds and take the chopper a most of 33 ft (10 m) above Mars’ crimson filth.The ones latter two figures may not set any new marks; Ingenuity has soared as prime as 79 ft (24 m) and stayed aloft for 169.5 seconds at a time, in keeping with the venture’s flight log. Over the process its 67 Mars flights, Ingenuity has racked up a complete of 121 mins of air time and lined about 9.5 miles (15.3 kilometers) of floor.

Author: OpenAI