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NASA shares Perseverance rover's breathtaking recording of Ingenuity flight on Mars

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Nov 20, 2021, 07:04 PM IST
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An illustration of NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter flying on Mars (Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Photograph:(Twitter)

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Ingenuity rotorcraft's flight on Martian surface was initially supposed to be just a technology demonstration. But after its spectacular success, the mission has been expanded. Perseverance rover filmed Ingenuity during its 13th flight

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has already earned its place in history by being first man-made craft to fly successfully on the surface of another planet. Till now we only knew this through news shared by NASA which got confirmation of the flight from the telemetry data. But now, Perseverance rover has recorded the magnificent flight of the helicopter. And NASA has shared the video with everyone online.

Recently, Ingenuity made its 13th flight. In the videos released by NASA, the rotocraft can be seen to fly nearly 700 feet horizontally at a height of about 26 feet from the martian surface. Perseverance used its Mastcam-Z to record the flight from 1000 feet away. The flight took place on September 4. 

Check out the video

NASA scientists recently made changes in Ingenuity's program to make it move a little faster. This was done to compensate for Martian atmosphere which is thinner than that of Earth. Ingenuity's navigation system is automated and uses Artificial Intelligence to make adjustment with respect to variables like wind speed and pressure changes.

Ingenuity took images of some interesting rock structures during its 13th flight. Ingenuity helicopter and its flight was initially meant to be just a technology demonstration. But after its brilliant success, its mission has been expanded to include study of martian rock deposits.