IT House reported on March 19 that nasa decided to extend its mission until September after the Ingenuity Mars helicopter successfully completed 21 flights to Mars.
In the coming months, the first aircraft in history to operate on the surface of another planet will help the Perseverance probe in its scientific activities, including exploring the Ancient River Delta at Jezero Crater. In the meantime, Witty will continue to test its capabilities to help with the design of future Mars vehicles.
IT House learned that the Witty Mars helicopter landed with Perseverance at Jezero Crater on Mars last February and successfully made its first flight in April, completing its 21st mars flight on March 11 this year, flying 370 meters in a 129-second mission. Since its first flight in April 2021, the helicopter has now flown more than 4.6 kilometres, with a total flight time of more than 38 minutes.
It is worth mentioning that it was originally planned to try to fly 5 times in 30 Martian days (31 Earth days). Because of the excellent performance of these five missions, NASA quickly approved the mission extension plan.
During this phase, it has been working as a scout for Perseverance, staying around like a gentleman and trying to explore the boundaries of Mars flight, while its main mission actually includes looking for signs of life on Mars and collecting dozens of samples for future return to Earth.
The research team has recently been eager to study the delta up close, because deltas on Earth tend to hold some carbon-containing organic chemicals and signs of life, so they think that if there is life, the area is more likely to exist.
In its 21 flights to Mars, Ingenuity spent a total of 38.8 minutes at high altitude and flew 15,246 feet (4.65 kilometers). That's more extensive than Perseverance's coverage on Mars. Currently, the Perseverance rover's odometer reads 2.73 miles (4.39 kilometers).