On April 19, local time, NASA announced that the unmanned helicopter "Witty" successfully completed its first flight on Mars. This is the first controlled flight of a man-made aircraft on another planet.
The "Giz" team stated that the data transmitted from Mars back to Earth showed that "Giz" completed the first flight to Mars lasting about 40 seconds. After ascending 3 meters vertically, it performed all the settings including hovering, descent, and landing. Definite action.
According to the team, the mission team received the data sent back to Earth by the "Wizard" via the "Perseverance" rover at 6:46 EST (18:46 Beijing time) on the same day, and confirmed that it had risen to the preset value. Flying at an altitude of 3 meters, hovering for about 30 seconds, then landed and landed on Mars smoothly.
According to reports, the mission team will continue to receive and analyze the data and images of the first test flight of the "wit", and make plans for the second test flight.
The second flight test is planned no earlier than April 22.
On February 18, 2021, the "wit" Mars helicopter landed on Mars on the "Perseverance" rover. It weighs about 1.8 kilograms, has 4 rotors, and is charged by solar panels to charge lithium batteries.
In order to be able to fly in the thin Martian atmosphere, compared with helicopters flying on Earth, the rotors of the "wit" rotate at a much faster speed.
(Producing Li Jiali)
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]