Nasa's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter set a new record by successfully completing its 70th flight on the Red Planet on December 22, 2023. The helicopter traversed a distance of 260 meters in a mere 132 seconds, which is the same as the length of nine blue whales end-to-end, NASA said.
Ingenuity landed with NASA's Perseverance rover in February 2021. Ever since, the two robots have been exploring Mars' Jezero Crater. So far, the helicopter has accumulated a total of 127.7 minutes of flight time, covering a distance of over 17.0 kilometers across the Martian landscape and reaching altitudes as high as 78.7 ft (24.0 m)
''Flying into the new year! The #MarsHelicopter completed Flight 70 - traveling 260 meters in 132 seconds. That's nearly the length of 9 blue whales,'' NASA JPL wrote in a post.
See the picture here:
Ingenuity was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on July 30, 2020, and landed on Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. The initial mission program was designed for only five flights over 30 days, but it exceeded expectations.
NASA's car-sized Perseverance rover, with scouting assistance from Ingenuity, is on a mission largely devoted to finding signs of past primitive life on the Martian surface.
During the journey, the helicopter snaps images of the ground beneath it to send back home to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team overseeing the program in California.
So, far Ingenuity's historic and successful activities on Mars include:
- The first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet, a feat that's been called a "Wright Brothers moment"
- Successfully flying in the extremely thin Martian atmosphere
- Previewing areas of Mars of possible interest for the Perseverance rover to explore
- Paving the way for future aerial explorers at Mars and, potentially, other space destinations
