Nasa's Mars helicopters malfunctions; goes on a wild flight

Photo: Nasa

Nasa's Mars helicopter goes on an unsteady wild flight after its first major problem since it took the Martian sky last month.

Nasa's experimental helicopter, which has been named ingenuity, wobbled through the air which was seen from camera-based navigation.

The officials at et Propulsion Laboratory said on Thursday that the helicopter managed to land safely after the trouble occurred.

"MarsHelicopter completed its 6th flight. Despite unexpected motion from an image processing issue, Ingenuity muscled through the final ~65 meters of its 215-meter journey, landed safely & is ready to fly again," Nasa tweeted about the situation.

 

The helicopter's chief pilot Harvard Grip wrote, “Ingenuity muscled through the situation, and while the flight uncovered a timing vulnerability that will now have to be addressed, it also confirmed the robustness of the system in multiple ways.

“While we did not intentionally plan such a stressful flight, Nasa now has flight data probing the outer reaches of the helicopter’s performance envelope.”

Ingenuity became the first aircraft to make a powered flight on another planet in April, two months after landing on Mars with Nasa’s rover Perseverance.

 

Publish : 2021-05-28 11:52:00

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