The mini helicopter flew for miles in the thin air of Mars, reaching an all-time high

With the mini flights, the American space agency NASA explores the area around Perseverance. For example, the tenth flight was intended to photograph a number of ridges that might be of interest for further research.

It was the most complicated flight to date in the thin Martian sky, according to NASA, as Ingenuity had to fly past ten predetermined points, supposedly waypoints.

Along with flights, NASA also wants to study whether it is possible in the future to send a larger helicopter to Mars that can reach places inaccessible to Martian rovers.

“Wright Brothers Moment”

Previously there was a lot of uncertainty about what was possible with the mini chopper. Never before has a helicopter been able to fly in the sky on another planet.

There were all kinds of other unpredictable things. Like the low atmospheric pressure and low temperatures on Mars, as well as the battery capacity of the helicopter, which is charged with solar energy. The helicopter was therefore mainly used for experimentation. Initially, no more than four flights were planned.

The success of the first flight on April 19 was, according to NASA, a “Wright Brothers Moment”. It was not for nothing that the light helicopter received a small piece of fabric from the Wright Flyer. The Wright brothers made the first powered flight to Earth in 1903 with this aircraft.

Since the first flight, NASA has updated the software of the mini-helicopter twice, improving the quality of photos and making the flight of the drone more stable.