On Friday, the Ingenity helicopter made its fourth and daring flight yet over the surface of Mars. However, the appetite increases with eating, which is why NASA has just expanded its mission.

Task Helicopter prowess On Mars It is a real mood swing. Already before the first flight, problems arose that delayed the implementation of the first motorized flight over a planet other than Earth. For a moment, even back then, I thought creativity might not tear itself off the surface at all. However, the helicopter quickly drove me out of my fault and cautiously flew 3 meters, then landed completely.

Indeed, at this point, the mission team confirmed that it was indeed possible to fly a helicopter in the Martian atmosphere, and so the helicopter mission was a success.

But that was the beginning. As planned, within one month of the helicopter’s separation from Azika perseverance NASA wanted to make up to 4 flights of increasing complexity. That’s why soon helicopter It rose 5 meters, moved 2 meters horizontally, and then returned to the landing site. A few days passed, and the helicopter was already embarking on a 50-meter escape adventure.

At this point, the engineers declared that all subsequent flights would be extremely risky, because as the helicopter moves away, it will fly over unknown terrain, so each subsequent flight may end with a difficult landing, after which it will not be possible to do so. Another trip. The fourth flight on Friday was also successful.

On Friday morning, information about a helicopter surfaced cleverness Despite loading the appropriate commands, it did not take off and did not complete its fourth flight. Engineers did not hesitate for long and took action immediately.

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Tactics at the right of the photo taken by the Perseverance Wagon on Friday

Thanks to this, in the evening we received information that, at 4:47 PM, the Polish ingenuity took about 2 minutes. During this time, it moved 133 meters from the launch site, and then returned safely to the landing site. Once again, we were able to break the record for flight length and speed, distance traveled and most importantly, finish the entire flight with a safe landing.

not finished yet

So the plan has been completely executed so far perfectly, and yet we still have on Mars a fully functional helicopter that still wants you to go crazy. For this reason, NASA decided to extend the original monthly helicopter mission by another month.

What will creativity do now? In fact, what helicopters could be useful during upcoming Mars missions.

Scientists plan to see if helicopters like Ingenuity could be useful as operational support Rover Mars. For this reason, the helicopter will reconnoiter where the perseverance will go next. In the distant future, helicopters could conduct similar reconnaissance for human adventures on the surface of Mars. Based on the images captured by the helicopter, scientists will be able to plan the rover’s best course, thus avoiding larger obstacles that the rover cannot see from its place on the surface.

It really is an amazing achievement for the team led by MiMi Aung. The Creative Helicopter mission could be extended again in a month, if its condition permits more flights.