NASA boasts Ingenuity's new altitude record in 35th flight on Mars; Watch the hop

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has completed another successful flight on Mars in what was its 35th hop on another planet. The latest flight was significant as the rotorcraft made a new maximum altitude record by climbing as high as 14 metres (46 feet). According to the mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Ingenuity was airborne for 52 seconds and covered 15 metres (49 feet) at a speed of three metres per second. 

The helicopter was sent to Mars along with the Perseverance rover, which landed in the Jezero crater on February 18, 2021, to find signs of ancient life on the red planet. Weighing just 1.8 kg, Ingenuity was meant as a technology demonstration to prove that a powered flight is possible in the thin atmosphere of Mars. It uses solar power to charge its batteries and relies on internal heaters to maintain operational temperatures during the cold Martian nights

The rotorcraft, which was designed to fly for up to 90 seconds, conducted its first flight on April 19, 2021, and climbed to about 3 metres (10 feet) during the 39-second flight. NASA sees it as a humongous feat considering the first flight on Earth by the Wright Brothers, which lasted just 12 seconds. The latest achievement comes a few weeks after Ingenuity took its shortest flight as it flew for 18 seconds and managed to hop a little over 5 metres (16 feet). NASA had said that it was 'short but significant' as the helicopter made its first flight since undergoing a crucial software update. 

Ingenuity's software update

The new software update provides Ingenuity with two major new capabilities which are hazard avoidance when landing and the use of digital elevation maps to help navigate. Just about 19 inches high, the helicopter can fly on its own and must take off, fly, and land, with minimal commands from Earth sent in advance, which makes the navigation system extremely important to avoid a collision. The JPL team had revealed that the new hazard avoidance feature would prove immensely beneficial considering that Ingenuity is operating over a much more challenging terrain than it was designed for.