Ingenuity Helicopter took the first color photo from a height of 5.2m above the Martian surface on its second flight on April 22.
Ingenuity automatically flies for nearly 52 seconds on the second flight, reaching 4.9m in the Martian atmosphere. After a brief hover, the vehicle banked 5 degrees and moved horizontally 2.1 meters. Currently, the helicopter is preparing for the third flight, scheduled for April 25.
During the closest flight, Ingenuity hovered in place and changed direction three times, allowing the color camera mounted on the helicopter to take pictures in different directions before the vehicle landed in the middle of the airfield. flight. Ingenuity is only collecting black and white photos with a navigation camera on the first flight on April 19. The color photo, shared by NASA on April 23, is the first photo taken while the vehicle is in the air. On the sides of the photo, the airstrips are clearly visible from 2 of the 4 legs of the helicopter. The shadow of the helicopter on the Martian surface also appears in the lower part of the image.
The image seen from the helicopter reveals the grooves created by the self-propelled robot Perseverance when dropping the helicopter between a 10 x 10 m wide flight zone, called Wright Brothers Stadium. Viewers can also see the Martian horizon in the upper left and right corners of the image. The engineering team behind the project said the photo demonstrates the unique aerial exploration capabilities of Ingenuity and other future jets.
According to schedule, the Ingenuity 1.8kg helicopter will fly again tomorrow morning. The data and photographs will be transmitted to the control room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., At 9:16 p.m. Hanoi time. Each subsequent flight is more difficult than the previous one. During the next flight, the helicopter will still fly 5 meters from the Martian surface but will increase its speed.
On the first two flights, Ingenuity moved at a speed of 0.5 m / s. Then the vehicle will accelerate to 2 m / s. The helicopter will fly 50 meters north and return to the landing site.
The flight crew planned to fly for a total of 80 seconds for a total distance of approximately 100 meters. Over the next week, Ingenuity will make two more flights before stopping.
