The Ingenuity Mars helicopter makes its thirty third flight on the Purple Planet

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is again within the air, staying aloft for almost a minute final weekend on its thirty third extraterrestrial outing.

Ingenuitywhich is a part of NASA’s quest for all times Rover of Perseverance mission, took off March on Saturday (September 24), finishing a flight of simply over 55 seconds. The 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft climbed about 33 ft (10 meters) into the air and moved about 365 ft (111 meters) earlier than touching down in a brand new location, based on the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which manages the Ingenuity and Perseverance missions.

“In case you look carefully at this picture, you will notice Ingenuity’s leg and little shadow,” JPL officers stated. stated through Twitter on Tuesday (opens in a brand new tab) (September 27).

Ingenuity helps Perseverance discover Jezero Crater, residence to a lake and river delta within the historical previous. Later within the 2020s, NASA and the European Area Company plan to collectively launch a pattern return mission to the area, which use helicopters very like Ingenuity selecting up samples collected by Perseverance and transporting them to a rocket for launch to Earth.

The group recognized Perseverance’s pattern return mission and pattern cache as essential in serving to to grasp the historical past of the Purple Planet and the potential for life on mars.

black and white photo of a Martian surface with a small helicopter shadow in the lower left

Ingenuity’s shadow is seen within the decrease left of this picture throughout its thirty third flight, September 24, 2022. (Picture credit score: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Perseverance, in the meantime, took on just a few challenges whereas making an attempt to carry out a rock abrasion earlier within the week. A weblog publish (opens in a brand new tab) On Wednesday, September 28, from JPL, the boulder, nicknamed “Chiniak”, shattered utterly after the Martian floor reacted unexpectedly to Perseverance instruments.

“Whereas we had to surrender the science of how shut abrasion was to this goal, we gained details about the cohesion and energy of the rock and had the chance to look at and examine the rock surfaces freshly damaged and weathered,” stated Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. pupil at Rice College, wrote within the publish.

“Due to the speedy work of science and engineers, a brand new goal was chosen for profitable abrasion just a few days later,” Moreland added.

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