(ORDO NEWS) — The Martian helicopter “Ingenuity” has set a new record for the highest flight altitude in the atmosphere of the Red Planet – now it is 14 meters. The drone did this on its 35th flight.
“Ingenuity” is a helicopter weighing 1.8 kilograms, with two coaxial propellers, each with a diameter of 1.2 meters.
He became the first unmanned vehicle in history to make a controlled flight in the atmosphere of another celestial body.
Initially, the service life of the drone was one month, but then NASA extended it indefinitely, and at the moment the helicopter is still working on Mars, despite failures and breakdowns.
During the 35th flight, which took place on December 3, 2022, the drone set a new record for flight altitude – 14 meters.
In 52 seconds, the device managed to fly 15 meters in a horizontal direction, so the total flight time of the drone is now 7407 meters in 59.9 minutes.
Engineers intend to continue working with the drone that follows the Perseverance rover, as one of the objectives of the Ingenuity Expanded Science Program is to determine the limits of drone survivability.
This is important when designing two analogue drones that will go to Mars with the MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) rocket in 2028.
You can read about why it is difficult to fly in the atmosphere of Mars in the material “Martian Propeller”.
In 14 years, the Dragonfly will land on Saturn’s moon Titan – this is how NASA called the future octocopter, which will study the atmosphere and surface of Titan, flying over it.
It will be supplied with electricity by a thermoelectric generator, and spectrometers, cameras and weather sensors will be placed on board the drone.
Scientists hope that the drone will fly about 175 kilometers in 2.7 Earth years – that’s how long the scientific program will last.
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