NASA's Ingenuity helicopter made another successful landing on Mars.NASA operations leader Teddy Tzanetos shared details about Ingenuity’s eighth trip across Mars' surface on Friday via his official status blog. The four-pound helicopter was attached to Perseverance's rover in February. It flew 525 feet south-southeast for a little over 78 seconds and moved approximately 440 feet from the rover.Tzanetos explained that this is the third flight of the Operations Demonstration Phase Of Ingenuity. The team will push the envelope of the aircraft's flight while also learning valuable operational lessons. Tzanetos also stated that the recent software update to the helicopter was successful during the flight. The Ingenuity team will now tackle the last flight software update. This will update a significant portion of Ingenuity's navigation-computer software.NASA released a 3D photo of Ingenuity at Mars' surface to commemorate the occasion. It was taken with two cameras aboard NASA's Perseverance on June 6th, between Ingenuity’s sixth and seventh flights. The image can be viewed below. If you so desire, you can even enjoy it with your classic, red-and-blue movie theater glasses.You can find instructions from NASA on how to make your own 3D glasses. However, you will need to use colored cellophane in order to complete the project.NASA's Perseverance Rover captured ingenuity on June 6, Credit: NASA/JPL–Caltech/ASU/MSSSNASA has been publishing 3D images from Mars since 2012, creating a rich collection of scenes from the Red Planet. These images are not only intended to satisfy our earthbound curiosity about Mars but also to provide valuable data for NASA researchers.Although the Ingenuity has high-resolution cameras, it hasn't taken any photos since Flight 6 on May 23, due to technical problems. It is expected that it will attempt to take more photos on its next flight. However, this flight is not yet publically scheduled.
