NASA will now be able to examine how operations of next-generation helicopters could aid potential Mars exploration. While Ingenuity appeared on Mars as a technological demonstration, the space agency gave the helicopter a new mission at the end of April in an attempt on controlled flight in another world.
Gizmodo reported that NASA included an operations demonstration process in the current mission. This step would look at what kinds of capabilities a rotorcraft can have on Mars missions, such as scouting, aerial surveillance of areas where rovers can't go, and accurate stereo imagery from high altitudes.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured this shot as it hovered over the Martian surface on April 19, 2021, during the first instance of powered, controlled flight on another planet. It used its navigation camera, which autonomously tracks the ground during flight.
Why Ingenuity Had To Relocate
Ingenuity has already done everything it was sent to do during its 31-Earth-day demonstration window. Therefore, everything it does after that is a welcome bonus for science.
Ingenuity must remain next to its mate - or, as I like to call it, proud parent - the Perseverance rover, to continue with its operations demonstration process. Perseverance serves as a link between Ingenuity, Mars orbiters, and mission controllers on Earth. In its way to find evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars, research the planet's atmosphere and geology, and gather samples for a possible return to Earth, the rover has its own timeline to follow.
"We are travelling to a new base because this is the direction Perseverance is going, and if we want to continue to demonstrate what can be done from an aerial perspective, we have to go where the rover goes," Josh Ravich, Ingenuity's mechanical engineering lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a status update posted on the space agency's offiial website.
According to NASA, flights will be reduced from once every few days to once every two or three weeks during Ingenuity's operations demonstration process. They'll also be timed to avoid interfering with Perseverance's scientific operations. After 30 Sols (31 Earth days) the Ingenuity team will evaluate flight operations and complete them by the end of August.
MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said her team deeply appreciated the help provided by the Perseverance rover team during Ingenuity's technology demonstration process.
"Now we have a chance to pay it forward, demonstrating for future robotic and even crewed missions the benefits of having a partner nearby that can provide a different perspective-one from the sky," Aung said in a statement posted on NASA. "We are going to take this opportunity and run with it-and fly with it."
NASA Completes Fifth Flight
Science Times previously reported that Ingenuity took off on its fifth scheduled flight to another airfield 129 meters south of the Wright Brothers Airport. When the little chopper landed at its new airfield, it reached to a height of 10 meters. It also took some high-resolution pictures of its "new neighborhood" before landing. The flight lasted 108 seconds in total.
The fifth successful flight was somewhat shorter in both distance and time than Ingenuity's fourth successful flight. It flew 266 meters roundtrip in 117 seconds on its fourth flight. On the other hand, Ingenuity flew twice as high on Friday, rising from five meters in the fourth flight to ten meters in the next.
However, this does not negate the fact that the helicopter's fifth flight was equally spectacular or challenging. The Ingenuity team selected the new airfield for the helicopter based on data collected during its fourth flight, which enabled them to produce digital elevation maps. The maps showed that the new site was almost entirely flat with no obstacles, which is crucial when it comes to landing Ingenuity. This was the first "aerial scout" mission to another planet, according to NASA.
RELATED ARTICLE: NASA Ingenuity Helicopter Successfully Completes 5th Flight on One-Way Trip [WATCH]
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