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NASA’s Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, is grounded for good. However it achieved loads throughout its virtually three-year journey on the purple planet.
It was solely despatched as a know-how demonstration to see how properly it carried out in Mars’ super-thin ambiance. 5 flights have been deliberate over 30 days, however Ingenuity ended up taking to the martian skies a powerful 72 occasions and turning into the primary plane to carry out powered, managed flight on one other planet.
Positive, there have been just a few points alongside the way in which, however they have been all fastened by the mission staff’s crack engineers primarily based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
However a broken propellor sustained throughout the helicopter’s most up-to-date flight earlier this month is one thing than can’t be resolved with a software program replace, so Ingenuity’s flying days are properly and really over.
The 4-pound, 19-inch-tall plane carried out so properly that it ended up helping NASA’s Perseverance rover in its ongoing quest to uncover proof of historic microbial life on the purple planet. It did this through the use of its onboard digicam to supply aerial imagery that was used to find areas of curiosity, and likewise to seek out secure and environment friendly routes for the rover because it moved from web site to web site.
The staff additionally pushed Ingenuity to the restrict to see simply what it was able to attaining within the martian skies.
Listed here are the important thing stats obtained from Ingenuity’s official flight log:
Whole variety of flights: 72
First flight: April 19, 2021 (hover solely)
Closing flight: January 18, 2024
Whole time within the sky: 128.8 minutes
Whole distance flown: 11 miles
Quickest velocity: 10 meters per second on flights 62, 68, and 69
Furthest flight: 705 meters on flight 69
Highest flight: 24 meters (hover solely) on flight 61
Longest time within the air: 169.5 seconds on flight 12
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