NASA ’s Ingenuity has successfully concluded its second flight . After itshistoric first - ever powered flight on another worldin the pinkish skies of Mars earlier this hebdomad , the Mars helicopter has once again lift off and hovered , this prison term in high spirits and for longer .
The flight took place at 5:30 am EDT ( 2:30 am PDT ) today , April 22 . The mission team planned a slightly more complex flight this prison term for the small vehicle . It climbed to 5 meters ( 16 feet ) , 2 beat ( 7 feet ) more than the first trajectory . It then brood before move sideway 2 time , something not attempted before .
After slide away from the center of “ Wright Brothers Field ” as its launch surface area has been named , cleverness also circumvolve point its people of color camera in different directions . It then shuffled back to the fundamental lieu and hovered back down .
“ So far , the engineering telemetry we have receive and analyzed differentiate us that the flight meet expectations and our anterior computer modeling has been precise , ” Bob Balaram , chief railroad engineer for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , read in astatement . “ We have two escape of Mars under our belts , which means that there is still a band to learn during this calendar month of Ingenuity . ”
" Every image we get of the helicopter on Mars is exceptional to me : After all , this has never been done before , " MiMi Aung , Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Project Manager at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , say in aNASA web log postahead of the second flight .
" But I have to say that of all the images , perhaps the one that will last out with me the most is that figure from thehelicopter ’s navigation camera : Taken when the rotorcraft was 1.2 meters in the air , the black - and - ashen range of a function prove the shadow of our darling Ingenuity , with her two rotors , over the surface of Wright Brothers Field .
While it ’s up to others to decide the image ’s historical import of this moment , when I first see it , I immediately call up of the word-painting Buzz Aldrin took of his kick print on the lunar surface . That iconic mental image from Apollo 11 said ' we walk on the Moon ' ; ours says ' we fly on another world . ' ”
