The space agency originally planned the flight for April 11, but postponed it due to a problem with
The problem has been resolved since then, NASAplanned a flight of a drone weighing 1.8 kg at 07:30 GMT (10:30 Moscow time). Data on the results of the test flight appeared at 10:50 GMT (13:50 Moscow time).
The first flight on Earth was made by the Wright brothers in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In honor of this feat, Ingenuity delivered a piece of cloth to Mars from this plane.
Orville conducts a demonstration flight for the US Army, Fort Meer, Virginia, September 1908. Photographer C. H. Claudy
The helicopter went to Mars, attached tothe bottom of the Perseverance rover, which landed on the planet on February 18 as part of a mission to look for signs of extraterrestrial life. In turn, Ingenuity's goal is to demonstrate new technologies, it will not contribute to the achievement of the scientific goals of Perseverance. However, NASA sent Ingenuity to Mars to pave the way for future flying vehicles that will transform celestial exploration. Future helicopters will be able to reach areas inaccessible to rovers and travel much faster.
The carbon fiber blades of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter can be seen in this video, captured by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover.
The helicopter flight time was chosen taking into account the weather on Mars. Wind is an unpredictable factor that could jeopardize the entire mission.
NASA previously released a flight plan: The helicopter ascends for about six seconds, hovers and rotates for about half a minute, and then descends.
The flight was completely autonomous, preprogrammed in Ingenuity, as signals are sent from Earth to Mars in 15 minutes.
The helicopter successfully took off, hovered in the air and landed.
The Mars rover filmed the flight of Ingenuity. This is the first helicopter flight on another planet.
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