Back in February of last year, NASA landed the Perseverance rover in the Jezero Crater on Mars. With it landed our hopes of finding traces of life there, past or present, but also a helicopter meant to demonstrate sustained powered flight in the thin local atmosphere is possible.
The helicopter, called Ingenuity, is tiny compared with other machines of its kind, weighing just 4 pounds (1.8 kg). It moves thanks to rotors 4 feet (1.2 meters) long from tip to tip, and is powered by lithium-ion batteries that get their juice from solar panels.
It was designed to fly for just 90 seconds at a time in the thin Martian atmosphere (which is just 1 percent that of Earth), and to distances of 980 feet (300 meters), while moving up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) off the ground.
It did all this 34 times until now, first on April 19, 2021, flying for a total of 59 minutes and traveling a total distance of over 24,000 feet (7 km) since. The highest altitude it reached was 39 feet (12 meters), and the top speed was 12.3 mph (20 kph).
Some of those numbers may change during flight 35, planned no earlier than December 3. NASA is targeting a flight duration of 52.22 seconds and a distance of 50 feet (15 meters). It also plans to raise the thing 46 feet (14 meters) into the Martian atmosphere.
The really impressive thing about all this is that the helicopter will fly, as usual, with minimal remote input. Just a few commands are sent from Earth in advance, and Ingenuity has to perform the entire flight on its own.
You can find the full list of previous Mars helicopter flights, as well as a trove of other cool info about the machine, at this link.
It was designed to fly for just 90 seconds at a time in the thin Martian atmosphere (which is just 1 percent that of Earth), and to distances of 980 feet (300 meters), while moving up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) off the ground.
It did all this 34 times until now, first on April 19, 2021, flying for a total of 59 minutes and traveling a total distance of over 24,000 feet (7 km) since. The highest altitude it reached was 39 feet (12 meters), and the top speed was 12.3 mph (20 kph).
Some of those numbers may change during flight 35, planned no earlier than December 3. NASA is targeting a flight duration of 52.22 seconds and a distance of 50 feet (15 meters). It also plans to raise the thing 46 feet (14 meters) into the Martian atmosphere.
The really impressive thing about all this is that the helicopter will fly, as usual, with minimal remote input. Just a few commands are sent from Earth in advance, and Ingenuity has to perform the entire flight on its own.
You can find the full list of previous Mars helicopter flights, as well as a trove of other cool info about the machine, at this link.
The #MarsHelicopter will attempt Flight 35 no earlier than Dec. 3. This flight is expected to last 52 seconds, cover about 50 feet (15 meters), and hit a max altitude of 46 feet (14 meters). https://t.co/eVfYTyylC3 pic.twitter.com/bsd0ns3o6W
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) December 2, 2022