NASA has shared images of the longest flight of the Ingenuity helicopter to Mars so far.
“The navigation camera aboard the rotator captured its longest and fastest flight to date on the Red Planet,” says NASA. “The helicopter covered 2,310 feet (704 meters) at a maximum speed of 12 mph (5.5 meters per second)” during its 25th record flight on April 28.
NASA has also shared (Opens in new window) more information about its plans for Ingenuity during the Martian winter.
“Our latest models suggest that regardless of changes to our overnight thermostat strategy,” says the agency, “it will be extremely difficult or even impossible to keep the Central Electronic Module (ECM) components warm and inside. of their nominal temperatures during the night “.
These challenges have already created some problems for NASA. The agency says it lost communications with Ingenuity from May 3-4 because it’s too cold on Mars.
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“Due to the seasonal decrease in available solar energy, increases in dust density in the air and falling temperatures,” says NASA, “the demand for energy to keep electronics powered and hot all night has exceeded Ingenuity’s available energy budget. “
Thus, the space agency prioritizes downlink communications, that is, it focuses on “copying flight performance logs, electronic logs, and high-resolution color images of the last eight flights that are still on board.” ‘Ingenuity’, to ensure that data is not lost forever. .
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