NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter successfully completed its second Mars flight on Thursday.
NASA said the flight lasted 51.9 seconds.
Officials said the flight added several new challenges to the first, which took place on April 19, including a higher maximum altitude, longer duration, and sideways movement.
During the flight, the small helicopter captured an image with its black-and-white navigation camera.
“So far, the engineering telemetry we have received and analyzed tell us that the flight met expectations and our prior computer modeling has been accurate,” said Bob Balaram, chief engineer for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity.”
NASA said the second flight test took off at 5:33 a.m. It climbed to 16 feet in the air.
Ingenuity flight In this image from NASA, NASA's experimental Mars helicopter Ingenuity hovers above the surface of Mars Monday, April 19, 2021. The little 4-pound helicopter rose from the dusty red surface into the thin Martian air Monday, achieving the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Ingenuity flight In this image from NASA, NASA's experimental Mars helicopter Ingenuity lands on the surface of Mars Monday, April 19, 2021. The little 4-pound helicopter rose from the dusty red surface into the thin Martian air Monday, achieving the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Ingenuity flight In this image from NASA, NASA's experimental Mars helicopter Ingenuity lands on the surface of Mars Monday, April 19, 2021. The little 4-pound helicopter rose from the dusty red surface into the thin Martian air Monday, achieving the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Ingenuity flight This March 21, 2021 photo made available by NASA shows the released debris shield, center, for the Ingenuity helicopter, dropped on the surface of Mars from the bottom of the Perseverance rover. On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, NASA announced that the helicopter's first Mars test flight will occur around April 8. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS via AP) (AP)
Ingenuity flight FILE - This Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021 file photo shows a full-scale model of the Ingenuity helicopter displayed for the media at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) helicopter, named Ingenuity, will attempt to rise 10 feet (3 meters) into the extremely thin Martian air on its first hop. Five increasingly higher and longer flights are planned over the course of a month. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) (Damian Dovarganes/AP)
Ingenuity flight FILE - This illustration made available by NASA depicts the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars which was attached to the bottom of the Perseverance rover, background left. It will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP) (AP)
Ingenuity flight This Tuesday, April 6, 2021 image made available by NASA shows the Perseverance Mars rover, foreground, and the Ingenuity helicopter about 13 feet (3.9 meters) behind. This composite image was made by the WASTON camera on the rover's robotic arm on the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS via AP) (AP)
Ingenuity flight In this Wednesday, April 29, 2020 still image from video, Vaneeza Rupani speaks from her home in Northport, Ala. Rupani, a high school, student had her entry chosen to name NASA's first Mars helicopter. Ingenuity, the name submitted by Rupani, was selected for the 4 pound (1.8 kilograms) solar-powered helicopter that is expected to be launched in Mars later this summer. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson) (Cody Jackson/AP)
After the helicopter hovered briefly, its flight control system performed a slight 5-degree tilt, allowing some of the thrust from the counter-rotating rotors to accelerate the craft sideways for 7 feet, NASA said.
“The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions,” said Håvard Grip, Ingenuity’s chief pilot at JPL. “Then it headed back to the center of the airfield to land. It sounds simple, but there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars. That’s why we’re here – to make these unknowns known.”
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