NASA’s Mars Helicopter Sets Altitude Records
A reminder of something truly incredible is that there is a micro-helicopter now exploring the surface of Mars. It came in early 2021 and was only meant to be used for a limited period of time due to its construction. During its 35th flight, which took place on Saturday, the NASA Ingenuity rotorcraft not only continues to soar, but it also just broke an altitude record.
In a tweet published on Tuesday, NASA JPL bragged about the intrepid helicopter’s “all-time high.” The height of creativity was 46 feet (14 meters) above the sand-covered surface of Mars.
An all-time high for the #MarsHelicopter!
Ingenuity completed Flight 35 over the weekend and set a new max altitude record, hitting 46 ft (14 meters) above the Martian surface. See more stats in the flight log: https://t.co/7DMHj9LkNX pic.twitter.com/qAj5H9Z68C— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) December 6, 2022
To put that in perspective, Ingenuity has just flown to a height that is about equivalent to the letters that make up the Hollywood sign, which is more than twice as tall as an adult male giraffe. It is important to keep in mind that this is occurring in the extremely thin atmosphere that exists on Mars. The helicopter easily broke its previous record for highest altitude, which stood at 39 feet (12 meters) and had been accomplished on a few of its earlier flights.
Flight 35 lasted for one minute and 52 seconds. The use of ingenuity spanned a distance of 49 feet (15 meters). The objective was to relocate the helicopter in its current location. The Ingenuity rotorcraft must maintain contact with its traveling companion, the Perseverance rover. The rover serves as a communications channel between the rotorcraft and its crew on Earth. Some of its flights are intended to keep up with the rover’s journey, others are for the purpose of surveying the landscape, and yet others are for the purpose of testing out different pieces of hardware or software.
Ingenuity, on the whole, possesses an equivalent amount of tenacity to that of perseverance. It was a demonstration of a potentially high-risk but potentially high-reward technology that NASA dispatched to Mars, and it has exceeded all expectations.
Tiesha loves to share her passion for everything that’s beautiful in this world. Apart from writing on her beauty blog and running her own beauty channel on Youtube, she also enjoys traveling and photography. Tiesha covers various stories on the website.
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