Los Angeles: NASA’s Mars helicopter has completed 56 flights on the Red Planet, the agency said on Thursday.
The helicopter had its 56th flight on Aug 25, in which it reached an altitude of 12 meters and traveled 410 meters for 141 seconds, according to NASA.
The helicopter, named Ingenuity, arrived at Mars’ Jezero Crater on Feb 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover. The helicopter is a technology demonstration to test powered flight on another planet for the first time.
The helicopter was designed to fly for up to 90 seconds, to distances of almost 300 meters at a time and about 3 to 4.5 meters from the ground, according to NASA.
So far, it has completed 100.2 flying minutes on Mars, covering 12.9 kilometers, and reaching altitudes as high as 18 meters, according to NASA.
