The NASA Ingenuity helicopter on its second flight to Mars, April 22, 2021. – NASA / AP / SIPA
Ingenuity, the helicopter sent to Mars, made its fifth flight on the Red Planet on Friday, NASA announced the same day on its website. The machine traveled 129 m before climbing to an altitude of 10 m and taking a picture in high definition.
This operation marks the start of a new phase of the helicopter’s mission. The latter definitely left the Wright Brothers’ airstrip to land somewhere else after its 108-second journey. This site was chosen after analyzing the data collected during the fourth trip, the first aerial spotting mission carried out on another planet.
Excelsior! Tea #MarsHelicopter completed its 1st one-way trip and 5th flight on Mars. It touched down at its new location, kicking off a new demo phase where we test this new tech and see how it can aid future missions on Mars and other worlds. https://t.co/TNCdXWcKWE pic.twitter.com/YwxIjupbQI
– NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 8, 2021
Study the use of a flying machine on another planet
The new phase of operations provides that Ingenuity is now working to explore the different possible uses of a rotor machine on Mars. NASA wants in particular to test the capabilities of the aircraft in terms of spotting and aerial observation of areas inaccessible to a rover, but also of taking detailed pictures from the atmosphere.
The helicopter will receive instructions from Earth relayed by Perseverance, without slowing down the scientific operations carried out by the rover itself, said chief engineer Bob Balaram. The specialist considered that this phase of the mission “offers an opportunity to develop our knowledge concerning flying machines on another planet”.
Ingenuity is expected to make a few more flights in the coming weeks before NASA reassesses its situation. The space agency said it had already been able to collect all the information that the program was supposed to collect.