The American Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA has reported on the first successful flight of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars.
Ingenuity first took to the air on April 19, 2021 at 10:43 Moscow time. Scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory received data from Mars at 13:46 Moscow time and conducted a broadcast.
As planned, Ingenuity climbed to a height of 10 meters and held a stable position for 30 seconds. It then descended, touching the surface of Mars after 39.1 seconds of flight.
As noted in NASA, this historical event and the first controlled flight on another planet, and also compare it in importance with the flight of the Wright brothers on Earth.
NASA explains that since data must be sent to and from the Red Planet hundreds of millions of miles away, Ingenuity cannot be controlled with a joystick and cannot be observed from Earth in real time. As a result, the first flight of Ingenuity was autonomous – the device was controlled by onboard guidance, navigation and control systems, working according to algorithms developed by the JPL team.
NASA’s Assistant Chief for Science Thomas Zurbuchen announced that the first Martian airfield was named the Wright Brothers Field and explained:
Now, 117 years after the Wright brothers made the first flight on our planet, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has succeeded in accomplishing this amazing feat in another world. While these two iconic moments in aviation history may be separated by time and 173 million miles of space, they are now linked forever. As a tribute to two innovative Daytona-based bicycle manufacturers, this first of many airfields in other worlds will now be known as the Wright Brothers Field, in recognition of the ingenuity and innovation that continues to drive research. ”
Recall that the helicopter was delivered to Mars, attached to the bottom of the Perseverance rover. Ingenuity’s main focus is to demonstrate technology and test the first flights on Mars. It was originally planned that the first flight will take place on April 11, but then the event was postponed as engineers worked on pre-flight checks and a solution to the software problem. Now that the first flight has been successful, Ingenuity will make a series of longer flights over Jezero Crater.
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