(NASA /JPL)
Ingenuity made its fifteenth flight in the atmosphere of the Red Planet, which became the first full-fledged flight at very high rotational speeds.
The marscopter flew 406 meters in a little over two minutes and received a series of color images of the surrounding area.
Ingenuity was the first drone sent to explore other planets. It was originally planned that it would work for only a month and make 5 flights.
However, seven months after landing on Mars, the vehicle is still working. It managed to complete 15 flights and received almost two thousand images of the surface of Mars.
The total flight range of the drone is more than three kilometers, and in time - almost half an hour. The scientific program was recently extended indefinitely.
During its operation, the drone has shown high survivability, having coped with several major failures.
The last one occurred during tests for high-speed screw unscrewing, there were problems with the swashplate.
Nevertheless, in the future, the marscopter demonstrated the possibility of a successful flight with the blades spinning up to 2700 rpm.
On November 6, Ingenuity made its fifteenth flight, which was the first full-fledged long flight at high propeller speeds.
The helicopter flew 406 meters in 128.8 seconds, being at an altitude of 12 meters. During this time, it received ten color photographs of the area.
The purpose of this flight was to explore the ledge, not far from which the Perseverance rover is located.
The drone is expected to receive a new software update in the near future and continue to follow the rover to their landing site.
Sources:
- NASA’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/NASAJPL/status/1457844542254706693