![]() Ingenuity's goal, by contrast, is to prove its technology works. Ingenuity travelled to Mars tucked under the belly of the Perseverance rover, which landed on the Red Planet on February 18 on a mission to search for signs of past microbial life. "It sounds simple, but there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars."ĭata and images from the flights are transmitted 173 million miles (278 million kilometres) back to Earth where they are received by NASA's array of ground antennas and processed. "Then it headed back to the centre of the airfield to land. "The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions," said Havard Grip, Ingenuity's chief pilot. That time Ingenuity rose to a height of 10 feet and then touched down after 39.1 seconds.įor the second flight, which lasted 51.9 seconds, Ingenuity climbed to 16 feet, hovered briefly, tilted and then accelerated sideways for seven feet. The US space agency conducted the first flight of the four pound (1.8 kilogram) rotorcraft on Monday, the first powered flight ever on another planet. "We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity," Balaram said in a statement. "So far, the engineering telemetry we have received and analysed tell us that the flight met expectations," said Bob Balaram, Ingenuity's chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)- NASA successfully carried out a second flight on Mars on Thursday of its mini helicopter Ingenuity, a 52-second sortie that saw it climb to a height of 16 feet (five meters). ![]() Dust is also causing issues for NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, which last year became the first aircraft to perform a powered, controlled flight on another planet.This NASA photo released on Apshows the downward-looking navigation camera aboard NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter in this image of the rotorcraft's shadow on the surface of Jezero Crater during helicopter's second experimental test flight on April 22, 2021. ![]() Windy conditions can also clear it off, but the lander has to be lucky to experience such a weather event. InSight can attempt to remove dust by using its robotic arm to trickle sand across the panels. NASA also reported that InSight is currently experiencing issues with martian dust that’s covering its solar panels, leading to reduced efficiency. Scientists will be analyzing this data to learn new things about Mars for years to come.” Its highly sensitive seismometer operates beneath a dome that serves to block out the sound of the wind and protect it from the cold nights.Ĭommenting on last week’s significant marsquake, Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: “Since we set our seismometer down in December 2018, we’ve been waiting for ‘the big one.’ This quake is sure to provide a view into the planet like no other. In more than three years of monitoring Mars, InSight has detected more than 1,313 quakes. ![]() Scientists are interested in studying Mars’ seismic activity as the data can contribute to a better understanding of the red planet’s mantle and core. Instead, marsquakes are caused by volcanic activity. Mars doesn’t have the kind of tectonic plates whose sudden movements cause quakes on Earth. My team is studying the data to learn more. ![]() Watch NASA’s new solar array unfurl on the space stationĪfter more than three years of listening to the soft rumbles of Mars, I just felt by far my biggest “marsquake” yet: looks like about magnitude 5. See seasonal changes on Mars in two stunning images from MAVEN NASA’s skywatching tips for July feature stars called Regulus and Fomalhaut ![]()
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