Successful third flight of Ingenuity on Mars 0:33
(CNN) -
Ingenuity successfully flew to Mars for the third time in a week.
This time, the helicopter recorded a flight that was faster, longer and bolder than the previous ones, according to NASA.
The device exceeded speeds and distances beyond what it was shown to be capable of during tests on Earth before launching itself to Mars.
The helicopter flew at 1:31 am (Miami time), or 12:33 pm local Mars time.
Data and images began flowing into the control room of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, at 10:16 a.m. (Miami time) Sunday.
The Perseverance rover captured an image of the helicopter in flight and shared it shortly after.
The Perseverance rover used one of its cameras to capture Ingenuity during its third flight on Sunday.
It can be seen near the center of the image, flying over the rocks at the airfield.
The helicopter climbed to the same altitude as its second flight, about 5 meters above the Martian surface, but this time it increased its speed.
During previous flights, the Ingenuity was moving at approximately 0.5 meters per second.
This time, the helicopter increased that speed to 2 meters per second.
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This Ingenuity image, captured by the rover's Right Mastcam-Z camera, shows the helicopter sitting safely on the surface of Mars.
The Ingenuity flew 50 meters to the north, almost half the length of a football field, before returning to return to the launch site.
In total, the helicopter flew for about 80 seconds, the longest so far, and a total distance of about 100 meters.
"While that number may not sound like a lot, consider that we never moved laterally more than two pencils when we did the flight tests in the vacuum chamber here on Earth," wrote Håvard Grip, chief pilot of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter at JPL. , in an update.
And while the 4 meters of lateral movement on Flight Two (2 meters out and then 2 meters back) was great, providing a lot of great data, it was still only 4 meters.
As such, Flight Three is a great step, one in which Ingenuity will begin to experience freedom in the sky.
Ingenuity Helicopter Shares First Color Aerial Photo and Prepares to Fly on Mars Sunday
The Perseverance rover, which serves as the communication base between the helicopter and its mission team on Earth, also acts as a documentary maker for Ingenuity.
He captured a video of the helicopter's third flight that will be able to show most of the 80-second journey.
The video is expected to reach Earth in the next few days.
"Today's flight was what we planned and yet it was nothing short of amazing," Dave Lavery, a program executive for the project at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.
"With this flight, we are demonstrating critical capabilities that will allow the addition of an aerial dimension to future missions to Mars."
The Ingenuity helicopter successfully completed the second and riskiest flight on Mars
The skies over Mars
While the Perseverance can use its cameras to take photos and record video, the Ingenuity is equipped with its own cameras that have other functions.
The navigation camera takes black and white images that help the helicopter's computer track its location during flight.
An image from this camera shows the helicopter's shadow on the surface of Mars during Sunday's flight.
Ingenuity's navigation camera took this image of the helicopter's shadow in flight on Sunday.
The members of the helicopter team are delighted with the images.
The researchers were only able to test to a certain extent while flying the helicopter in a test chamber on Earth.
The helicopter was unable to move more than 0.5 meters in a given direction during the test, so they had no way of knowing if the navigation camera would be able to track the ground as it moved further and faster.
"This is the first time we have seen the camera algorithm operating at long range," MiMi Aung, project manager for the helicopter at JPL, said in a statement.
"You can't do this inside a test chamber."
The helicopter's color camera shows Ingenuity's perspective as it flies through the Martian atmosphere.
During its second flight on April 22, Ingenuity flew autonomously for nearly 52 seconds, climbing 4.9 meters through the Martian atmosphere.
After a brief hover, it leaned at a 5-degree angle and moved sideways by 2.1 meters.
Before safely returning to the surface, Ingenuity floated again to allow its color camera to capture the view of what flying on Mars looks like.
Two new images of the second flight were revealed on Sunday.
Ingenuity's navigation camera took this image of the helicopter's shadow in flight on Sunday.
The mission team believes that these images demonstrate useful capabilities that could be added to future missions, such as aerial exploration.
Details of the helicopter's airfield can be seen in this April 22 image.
The helicopter's shadow is visible at the bottom, its landing feet on either side, and the rover's tracks are also evident.
Ingenuity, with a technology demonstration, still has one more week to perform two additional flights before the end of the 31-day mission.
"Although we conducted our flight tests in a thin atmosphere more than 290 million kilometers from Earth, we modeled our methodical approach to experimental flight on the Wright brothers' approach," Grip wrote.
"Our plan from day one has been to prepare like crazy, fly, analyze the data (like crazy) and then plan an even bolder test on the next flight."
The fourth flight will likely occur in a few days, according to the agency.
MarsNASArover Perseverance