NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter took off at 4: 31 a.m. EDT (1: 31 a.m. PDT), or 12: 33 p.m. local Mars time, on April 25, 2021, rising 5 m (16 feet); then it zipped downrange 50 m (164 feet), reaching a top speed of 2 m per second (6.6 feet per second).
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter can be seen hovering during its third flight on April 25, 2021, as seen by the left Navigation Camera aboard the Perseverance rover. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
“Today’s flight was what we planned for, and yet it was nothing short of amazing,” said Ingenuity’s program executive Dr. Dave Lavery, a researcher at NASA Headquarters.
“With this flight, we are demonstrating critical capabilities that will enable the addition of an aerial dimension to future Mars missions.”
Dr. Lavery and colleagues have been pushing the Ingenuity’s limits by adding instructions to capture more photos of its own — including from the color camera, which captured its first images on the second flight.
This is the first color image of the Martian surface taken by an aerial vehicle while it was aloft. The Ingenuity helicopter captured it with its color camera during its second successful flight test on April 22, 2021. At the time this image, Ingenuity was 5.2 m (17 feet) above the surface and pitching (moving the camera’s field of view upward) so the helicopter could begin its 2-m (7-foot) translation to the west — away from the rover. The image, as well as the inset showing a close-up of a portion of the tracks the Perseverance rover and the surface features, demonstrates the utility of scouting Martian terrain from an aerial perspective. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
As with everything else about these flights, the additional steps are meant to provide insights that could be used by future aerial missions.
The helicopter’s black-and-white navigation camera, meanwhile, tracks surface features below, and this flight put the onboard processing of these images to the test.
Ingenuity’s flight computer, which autonomously flies the craft based on instructions sent up hours before data is received back on Earth, utilizes the same resources as the cameras.
Over greater distances, more images are taken. If Ingenuity flies too fast, the flight algorithm can’t track surface features.
“This is the first time we’ve seen the algorithm for the camera running over a long distance. You can’t do this inside a test chamber,” said Ingenuity’s project manager Dr. MiMi Aung, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“When you’re in the test chamber, you have an emergency land button right there and all safety features,” added Gerik Kubiak, a software engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“We have done all we can to prepare Ingenuity to coast free without these features.”
With this third flight in the history books, the Ingenuity team is looking ahead to planning its fourth flight in a few days’ time.
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This article is based on text provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
