Unmanned Ingenuity helicopter makes first flight over Mars in two months

NASA reported on the 30th flight of the Ingenuity drone in the atmosphere of Mars. Initially only five flights were planned, but the drone exceeded all expectations.

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On August 20, Ingenuity made another successful flight over the surface of the Red Planet. It is the first drone flight in more than two months.

Ingenuity is located in the Ezero Crater. Because it is winter there, NASA could not use the unmanned helicopter because of frequent dust storms. Another problem was the accumulation of dust on the solar panels, which significantly reduces the duration of flights.

NASA experts decided to perform the 30th flight of Ingenuity to check the helicopter's performance after the downtime since June 11. At the same time, the drone was able to drop dust from the solar panels. The drone successfully flew 2m, taking 33 seconds to do so.

Source: space.com

Image: Everything Aviation

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