distance It First flight challenging gravity On MarsIngenuity helicopter took off Again this morning for a second more complex air maneuver. The flight was a success, and it pushed the boundaries of what humans (or at least, man-made drones) could do in the thin air of Mars.
The second flight took place at around 5:30 AM EST on Thursday and was supposed to take about 50 seconds. The goal was for the creativity to rise to about 5 meters From the ground, make a sideways movement of about 2 metersThen turn around and go Back, come down to Where it started. We are awaiting confirmation from NASA about whether everything is going according to plan. In addition to the slight increase in flight duration and maximum altitude, the main difference from the first flight was the lateral offset, paving the way for the helicopter to make longer trips over the “Wright Brothers Field”, as NASA launched into the area..
In these photos, it’s easy to forget the extreme conditions in which the daring helicopter flies: the atmosphere is only 1% As thick as That earth and strength gravity About a third. In the spring of Mars, temperatures never exceed freezing and the lowest temperatures are the same as cold -73 degrees Celsius. Maybe this buzz To be helicopter blades Actually The ship gossiping its teeth?
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NASA released a video From the trip, taken by perseverance, Thursday afternoon:
At a news conference on Monday, Chief Creative Pilot Harvard Grip said the expectations for the rest of the planned flights are “to go up, go farther, go faster.” to Now, the team is on the right track to make this happen. It will not be a space mission Without a race against time: a team Creativity has a flight test window for 30 suns (Mars days); Today is Sun 18. In other words, there are shots waiting for us Great for Coming weeks. So far, all the photos we’ve received on the ground have been taken by the perseverance chariot. But the team said they would take pictures with Helicopter on this second flight, which will arrive Down to earth during the day, like me Reaches Where 290 Million kilometers far.
Unlike many other probes on Mars, creativity wasn’t built to last Years. The helicopter is prof Proof of concept and He has a total of five trips planned, and two are now complete, but his life after that is a big question mark.. Its purpose is to test the limits of what a helicopter can do on Mars, and provide researchers and engineers with the data that will document. Design and build future handouts.
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