The black and white navigation camera of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter has provided a spectacular video of its record-breaking 25th flight.
The flight, which took place on April 8, covered a distance of 704 meters at a speed of 5.5 meters per second. It was the longest and fastest flight of the Red Planet aircraft to date, NASA said in a statement.
“For our record flight, the ingenuity downhill navigation camera gave us an impressive sense of what it would feel like to glide 33 feet above the surface of Mars at 12 miles per hour,” said the leader of the Ingenuity team, Teddy Tzanetos, from NASA Jet. Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, in the statement.
The first frame of the video clip begins approximately one second after the flight. After reaching an altitude of 10 meters, the helicopter heads southwest, accelerating to its maximum speed in less than three seconds.
The spinner first flies over a group of sand waves and then, in the middle of the video, several rock fields. Finally, relatively flat, unpaved terrain appears below, providing a good landing point. The 161.3-second flight video accelerated approximately five times, reducing it to less than 35 seconds.
The navigation camera is programmed to turn off whenever the aircraft is less than 1 meter from the surface. This helps ensure that dust that rises during takeoff and landing does not interfere with the navigation system, as it keeps track of features on the ground.
Ingenious flights are autonomous. JPL’s “pilots” plan them and send orders to the Perseverance Mars rover, which then transmits those orders to the helicopter. During a flight, on-board sensors, a navigation camera, an inertial unit of measurement, and a laser distance finder provide real-time data to Ingenenu’s navigation processor and main flight computer, which guide the helicopter. in flight. This allows Ingenuity to react to the landscape while performing its commands.
Mission controllers recently lost communication with Ingenuity after the helicopter entered a low-power state. Now that the aircraft is in contact again and getting the proper energy from its solar array to charge its six lithium-ion batteries, the team looks forward to its next flight to Mars.
The small helicopter landed with the NASA Perseverance rover on the ground of Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. The $ 85 million mission of Ingenenuity was supposed to be done after flight number five.
But the solar-powered helicopter had worked so well and remained so healthy, despite the fine atmosphere of Mars, that NASA granted an extension of the mission. Ingenuity is currently preparing for its 29th flight, NASA said.
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