After making it through a difficult winter, the Mars helicopter Ingenuity is back in the air after completing its 33rd flight. After a break from June to August, the helicopter resumed operations on September 6 and has been making further flights ever since.
The helicopter covered over 112 meters in just under a minute, with the helicopter heading towards the Jezero river Delta to rejoin the Perseverance rover.
Over the weekend, #MarsHelicopter successfully completed Flight 33! The rotorcraft reached an altitude of 10 meters (33 ft) and traveled 111.24 meters (365 ft) in 55.2 seconds. If you look closely at this image, you’ll see Ingenuity’s leg and tiny shadow. pic.twitter.com/4UwPs1bAcV
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) September 27, 2022
A passenger was on this flight as a piece of debris got caught around the helicopter's leg. The foreign object debris is a mystery because it doesn't seem to be from the helicopter.
The helicopter's navigation camera took the picture below. There are two of the four legs that the helicopter sits on when it is on the ground in the center of the picture. There is a small piece of debris attached to the leg on the right and NASA is not sure what it is or where it came from.
NASA confirmed that this piece of debris hadn't been seen during the helicopter's previous flight, so it seems to have been a recent addition. The debris detached from the helicopter and floated away during the flight. The full footage can be seen on the NASA Ingenuity website.
NASA stated that there was no indication of vehicle damage from the flight and post-flight searches and transfers. The Ingenuity and Perseverance Mars 2020 teams are trying to figure out where the debris came from.
There is a recommended video.
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