Glory to anyone who can stop NASA’s brave little Mars helicopter! Ingenuity has been on the red planet since April 2021. The 57th completes the air adventure, which is also the last. He broke his own record with a total flight time of 100 minutes.
Mars Helicopter broke its own record with a flight time of 100 minutes!
Ingenuity reached Mars aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover in February 2021. His initial plan was to simply test the helicopter’s ability to take off and fly. Because the atmosphere of Mars was much thinner. But Mars Helicopter Ingenuity has achieved much more.
Meanwhile, Ingenuity had already made history. Ingenuity was the first aircraft to perform powered controlled flight on another planet. Since then, the JPL team has pushed the Mars Helicopter to its limits. He sent it on a bunch of missions involving numerous take-offs at different altitudes and at different speeds.
In April last year, the Mars Helicopter broke the record for the longest distance that Ingenuity has ever flown in a single flight. The longest it stayed in the air was 169.5 seconds on a flight in August 2021. During its landmark flight, NASA’s Mars helicopter traveled 217 meters north for 129 seconds, reaching an altitude of 10 meters. In this attempt, he reached a maximum speed of 4.8 kilometers per hour.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) oversees the mission. The purpose of the flight was to reposition the helicopter, the website said. He also added that his duties include capturing images of designated science targets.
Despite a few technical problems along the way, the helicopter continued its mission. It has even inspired NASA engineers for future missions to Mars and possibly other planets. Now with a flight time of 100 minutes, this extraordinary machine continues to roam the surface of Mars. NASA is looking forward to seeing what more the Mars Helicopter can do.