NASA held at dawn this Monday (19/04) a historic milestone for humanity. The agency managed to fly a helicopter on Mars, even with the red planet's thin atmosphere.
The test took place after a few days of basic delay, which NASA used to remotely upgrade the helicopter. The aircraft was programmed to carry out the entire mission alone, since the distance between the two planets, which causes a delay in communication, makes any real-time command from Earth unfeasible.
Altimeter data indicates that the Ingenuity Helicopter climbed to its prescribed maximum altitude of 10 feet (3 meters) and maintained altitude steadily for 30 seconds. The flight was a total of 39 seconds long.
Check it out at video below, captured by the Rover Perseverance, which recently arrived on Mars:
You wouldn't believe what I just saw.
More images and video to come…#MarsHelicopterhttps://t.co/PLapgbHeZU pic.twitter.com/mbiOGx4tJZ
- NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) April 19, 2021
The Red Planet has significantly less gravity, a third of that recorded on Earth, and an extremely thin atmosphere, with only 1% of the surface air pressure compared to our planet.
The smaller amount of air available was placed by NASA as a challenge, since propeller aircraft need the same to generate propulsion and lift.
The use of aircraft on Mars can contribute to further studies on atmospheric layers, as well as their behavior depending on altitude. Ingenuity is a technological and scientific breakthrough for NASA at the same time.
The first aircraft to fly on Mars has all-electric propulsion, powered by a few batteries and a small solar . The Ingenuity It is 49 centimeters tall and 1,8 kilograms in total weight.
There are no research instruments on this helicopter, however, NASA took advantage of the small vehicle to test the possibility of using simpler components in important missions, such as smartphone parts.
