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NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Sets Flight Record On Mars
The Ingenuity helicopter casts a shadow as it flies above the Martian surface.
(
Courtesy NASA
/
JPL-Caltech
)
NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab has released video of a record-setting flight by the Mars helicopter Ingenuity.
The black-and-white footage shows the aircraft flying over 2,300 feet high at 12 miles an hour, the farthest and fastest Ingenuity has gone on the Red Planet.
An aerial view from Mars.
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 28, 2022
During #MarsHelicopter’s 25th flight, it flew 2,310 ft (704 m) at a speed of 12 mph (5.5 m/s), breaking its own distance and groundspeed records on another planet. Imagery recently downlinked shows Ingenuity’s point of view. https://t.co/NU5d6wGSdE pic.twitter.com/IqgkEmR04W
JPL's Teddy Tzanetos, who heads the Ingenuity team, said he's surprised the helicopter is still breaking records when it was intended to run for only about 30 Martian days.
"It's blown all of my expectations are completely out of the water not just in terms of what the team has been able to accomplish, but really the spacecraft," he said. "Ingenuity is very tough — she's very capable."
Tzanetos says Ingenuity's record-breaking flight last month will probably be its best for a while.
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Martian winter is coming soon and the craft will need to conserve as much energy as possible to keep its components warm and running.
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