The Ingenuity Mars helicopter flew for 18 seconds, 13 seconds shorter than its first flight on the red planet.
Ingenuity was developed as a technology demonstration and designed to operate on Mars in flat, smooth terrain.
The JPL team member said that Ingenuity and Perseverance encountered more challenging terrain than the team had expected.
With the new hazard-avoidance software, the helicopter can use its downward-facing navigation camera to find the safest landing site, meaning more potential landing sites for the small machine.
In previous flights, Ingenuity's pilots have had to find airfields free of rocks and other obstacles that could damage the vehicle when landing. It's difficult to find safe airfields in Jezero crater.
The helicopter's navigation software had only been designed to handle flat terrain, so the digital elevation maps will help to eliminate a problem in which hilly terrain causes the helicopter to deviate from its intended course.
The software update uses digital elevation maps of Jezero Crater to help the navigation software distinguish between changes in terrain and vehicle movement. The increase in accuracy will allow the pilots to target smaller airfields.
The results of Ingenuity's short and simple flight will be used to begin more advanced testing of the new capabilities.
Anderson said the update makes the aircraft a much more capable vehicle and effective scout for Perseverance.
The shortest flight to date was taken on November 23. The longest flight up to now was 169.5 seconds.
The helicopter is helping to find safe routes for the ground based Perseverance rover, which is searching for evidence of ancient life on the distant planet, as well as testing new technologies for future human missions to Mars.
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