Mars Helicopter Ingenuity completed one-way 5th flight to 10m altitude (first pics)

10 METERS ALTITUDE!!!

Good Saturday morning my Brothers and Sisters!!! On Friday, May 7th, Mission Control sent commands to "Percy" who transmitted them over to Ingenuity for a 5th successful flight!

Ingenuity rose to a new Martian record of 10 meters or close to about a 32 foot altitude! That may not seem like much, but in the very thin atmosphere of Mars, that is high flying and shows that it could do more if necessary! It also traveled about 129 meters in just under 2-minutes!

Here is the text description released by NASA:

On May 7th, 2021 NASA’s Perseverance captured Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s first one-way trip without coming back to previous location. The helicopter ascended to a new height record of 33 feet (10 meters) flew 424 feet (129 meters) to a new landing site.

After a total flight time of about 110 seconds, Ingenuity landed at Airfield B (new location) completing its first one-way trip. When it touched down at its new location, new demonstration phase began. The flight represents the rotorcraft’s transition to its new operations demonstration phase. This phase will focus on investigating what kind of capabilities a rotorcraft operating from Mars can provide.

Examples include scouting, aerial observations of areas not accessible by a rover, and detailed stereo imaging from atmospheric altitudes. These operations and the lessons learned from them could significantly benefit future aerial exploration of Mars and other worlds.

Credit: nasa.gov, NASA/JPL-Caltech, NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

I hope you all enjoy the video... I am sure more footage will be provided later today,,,
Kerry
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