And two!
NASA's small helicopter Ingenuity managed a riskier second flight to Mars on Thursday, three days after making history by becoming the first motorized craft to take to another planet.
This flight, which lasted 51.9 seconds against 39.1 seconds Monday, associated "several new challenges" compared to the first, "in particular a higher maximum attitude, a longer duration and lateral movements", explained Nasa. in a press release.
Ingenuity, which took off at 5:33 a.m., rose to five meters in height as it had stopped three meters on the previous flight.
🚁 The second-ever #MarsHelicopter flight is in the books!
🔴
Just three days after its first flight, our little rotorcraft took to the skies once again above Mars' Jezero Crater higher and for longer.
Dive into the full details: https://t.co/SLEegXdvMj pic.twitter.com/xLmEP1S7dz
- NASA (@NASA) April 22, 2021
This second flight "met expectations"
“It sounds simple, but there are so many unknowns about how to fly a helicopter on Mars. That's why we're here, to find answers to these questions, ”explained Havard Grip, one of its remote pilots. The data received seems to indicate that this second flight "lived up to expectations," said Bob Balaram, chief engineer of the project.
Other flights are planned, but "the lifespan" of Ingenuity will be "determined by how it lands" each time, explained MiMi Aung, head of the helicopter project, claiming to want to push the "vehicle. to its limits ”.
The Ingenuity experiment will stop whatever happens after a month, to let the Perseverance rover, aboard which it arrived on Mars, devote itself to its main task: to search for traces of ancient life on the planet. red.
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