Ingenuity breaks records again for its fourth Mars flight

The fourth flight of the Innovator to Mars took place on April 30th. The NASA robot again broke records set on previous flights, flew 266 meters in the air for 117 seconds and captured about sixty images.

New Successful Plane for Intelligence on Mars: April 30, 2021, NASA Confident His helicopter has made its fourth flight to the Red Planet. That day, the robot took off at 4:49 pm (Paris time) or 12:33 pm on the local Mars. It moved 133 meters and rose 5 meters above sea level before returning (total flight distance 266 meters). In total, he was in the air for 117 seconds.

It lasted 80 seconds during the third flight on April 25 and is longer than any other time Ingenuity has already exceeded expectations (Beyond the speed and distance reached during tests carried out on Earth). During this fourth test, several photos were taken on the plane, two cameras with ingenuity. The robot is equipped with a navigation camera that captures black and white images, as well as color landscape images.

“More pictures than time [des] Previous flights

« During this flight we recorded more pictures than our previous planes: a total of 60 in the first 50 meters before the helicopter returned to its landing site. ”, NASA explains in its press release. Getting multiple images was a technical challenge. Some black and white images were taken to obtain stereo pairs: thus the mission teams tested the possibility of having 3D images on the surface of Mars.

Data on the fourth flight of the Mars helicopter was provided in a specific context: on April 30, NASA announced against all contradictionsShe was given 30 more Tuesdays to fly On the red planet. The helicopter’s mission began on April 3, when the diligent rover landed it on the surface of Mars. Initially, its purpose should not exceed 30 souls (i.e. 31 earth days). The space agency changed its mind and added a new phase to the so-called “demonstration of action” mission. The basic purpose, which aims to provide a technical demonstration of the aircraft to Mars, will, along with this other phase, be the question of verifying how a helicopter can provide assistance during scientific missions.

Although NASA has not yet given an exact date, a fifth aircraft is in the project. However, the space agency said the ingenuity did not have to make a round trip at this time A statement. It will be a “one way” trip, landing on the new site. If all goes as planned and the helicopter is still operating, the “demonstration of operations” phase may officially begin.

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