The Ingenuity helicopter is still sending data back to Earth even though it is struggling to cope with the dust and cold on Mars. NASA scientists put together images taken from its longest flight to date to create a stunning video, showing the helicopter's eye view of the Martian surface as it sped across it.
The helicopter's 25th flight took place on April 8. The long flight helped move the helicopter out of the South and toward the delta, where the Perseverance rover is going to look for signs of ancient life. The Ingenuity team decided to perform a short flight 24 to reach a safe landing zone before moving on to their longest flight yet to keep up with the rover.
The helicopter uses Ingenuity's black and white navigation camera, which was used to create the video. Ingenuity pilots, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, plan out where they want the helicopter to go and then relay commands to it. The helicopter takes over and executes the commands.
During a flight, onboard sensors provide real-time data to Ingenuity's navigation processor and main flight computer.
An aerial view from Mars.
During #MarsHelicopter’s 25th flight, it flew 2,310 ft (704 m) at a speed of 12 mph (5.5 m/s), breaking its own distance and groundspeed records on another planet. Imagery recently downlinked shows Ingenuity’s point of view. https://t.co/NU5d6wGSdE pic.twitter.com/IqgkEmR04W
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 28, 2022
After the helicopter takes off, the camera begins recording images, with it rising quickly into the thin martian air. The helicopter can cover terrain at a top speed of 12 mph once it reaches its flying altitude of 10 meters. It comes to a flat, featureless area which makes for a good safe landing spot and comes in to land after a total flight of 161.3 seconds. The helicopter flew for a distance of 2,310 feet, with the video of the flight sped up to five times speed to show the helicopter in action.
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