NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity is still going strong seven months after its first epic flight on the red planet, exceeding the expectations of the original mission beyond all belief. We still can't get enough of the amazing footage of its travels.
Only five flights were planned for the little robot in the thin atmosphere of Mars, and it's already taken to the air at least 15 times.
Ingenuity is a flight pro, and it's still amazing to watch the helicopter take to the air, performing complex maneuvers on a world so different from Earth. NASA has just released footage of one of the most challenging flights yet, which took place on 4 September 2021.
Mars rover Perseverance captured the entire flight with its binocular vision camera system. This helps scientists on Earth to study the flight and puts the instruments through their paces.
The value of Mastcam-Z shines through in the video clips, said engineer Justin Maki of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
We get a great closeup of takeoff and landing through Mastcam-Z's 'right eye' even at 300 meters away. While the helicopter is a small part of the wide view taken through the'left eye', it gives viewers a good feel for the size of the environment that Ingenuity is exploring.
The flight took place in the Sétah region of Jezero crater, where the two robotic probes explored the terrain together, collecting data so that scientists on Earth can study the mineral composition of the region.
The purpose of the flight was to take pictures of a rocky outcrop from multiple angles. The Perseverance science team requested that these images be taken to complement the 10 images taken during the helicopter's 12th flight.
After takeoff, Ingenuity climbed to its maximum altitude before turning on the spot and flying to the right of Perseverance's field of view. A short time later, it heads back towards the left and lands a few meters from its takeoff point.
"We flew over an elevated ridgeline before dipping into Sétah after taking off from the crater floor," said Ingenuity's chief pilot Hvard Grip of JPL.
Since the helicopter's navigation filter prefers flat terrain, we programmed in a waypoint near the ridgeline where the helicopter slows down and hovers for a moment. The helicopter would be able to keep track of its heading despite the significant terrain variations if the little 'breather' was used. It does the same on the way back. It's great to see this happen and reinforce our understanding of how to best operate Ingenuity.
Before the first flight took off, it was not clear if Ingenuity would fly. Staying aloft on Mars is more difficult than on Earth because of the lower atmospheric density.
At the time of Ingenuity's 13th flight, conditions were growing more challenging due to seasonal changes. The helicopter's engineers have had to find ways to compensate for the drop in density, by spinning its rotors even faster.
This has been working so far, but it puts more stress on the helicopter's hardware. The engineers are performing tests and watching Ingenuity during flights.
The helicopter was due to fly over the weekend. We will be waiting to find out how it went.
