Ingenuity made a record flight on the Red Planet and eventually overtook Perseverance

NASA officials announced that a small 1.8 kg Ingenuity helicopter made a record-breaking 21st flight on the Red Planet.

The helicopter flew 370 meters at a speed of 3.85 meters per second and remained in the air for 129.2 seconds. This was announced on Twitter by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Ingenuity mission.

In February 2021, Ingenuity, along with NASA’s Perseverance rover, landed on the bottom of the Martian crater Lake, where a lake and river delta were billions of years ago. The solar-powered helicopter was originally supposed to carry out a five-fly mission designed to show that aerial exploration on Mars is possible despite the planet’s rarefied atmosphere.

Ingenuity managed these five flights, and NASA soon extended the mission. Now he serves as a scout for Perseverance, whose main tasks include searching for signs of life on Mars and collecting dozens of samples for a future return to Earth. Each subsequent flight of Ingenuity becomes a record.

During their first year on Mars, Ingenuity and Perseverance explored areas south and southwest of the landing site. Both robots are now returning to the landing zone, on their way to the accessible part of the ancient river delta. The Perseverance team is keen to start exploring deltas up close because deltas on Earth are good at preserving carbonaceous organic chemicals and signs of life.

In total, Ingenuity was in the air for a total of 38.8 minutes and covered 4.65 km. At the same time, Perseverance traveled 4.39 km on the surface of the Red Planet.