NASA's Ingenuity helicopter-drone will continue to fly to Mars until at least September, to support the upcoming science campaign of the Perseverance rover and to help design future aircraft for the Red Planet.
This was announced by NASA after the drone has successfully completed its 21st flight to Mars, for a total of over 38 minutes of flight and 4.64 kilometers of travel.
"Less than a year ago, we didn't even know if motorized and controlled flight of an aircraft to Mars was possible," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's directorate for science missions.
“We are now looking forward to involving Ingenuity in the second science campaign of Perseverance.
Such a change of mentality in such a short period is simply amazing and one of the most historic in the annals of air and space exploration. "
In the coming weekend, Ingenuity will perform the first of at least two or three flights that will be needed to complete the crossing of the northwestern part of the 'Séítah' region.
Then the drone will support the Perseverance rover in exploring the ancient delta in the Jezero crater, helping it to choose the path to follow and the potential scientific objectives to study.
"The river delta campaign will be the biggest challenge the Ingenuity team will face since the first flight to Mars," said Teddy Tzanetos, head of the Ingenuity team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jpl).
"To increase the chances of success, we have increased the size of our team and are making updates to our flight software aimed at improving operational flexibility and flight safety."
