Ingenuity's Six Months Of Exceeding Expectations Shines Through In Lucky 13th Flight

Sep 07 | 2021 By Admin

NASA’s Ingenuity, the first aerial vehicle to take flight on another world, continues to be a story of monumental success. Being a pathfinder mission it was designed to last 90 days and five flights. Now many months later, having completed its 13^th flight, the helicopter continues to fly higher and further than hoped.

The 13th flight was completed on September 5, where the helicopter moved slower, over a shorter distance, and at a lower altitude than the several previous aerial jaunts. And for good reason, Ingenuity is studying a particular ridge in the geologically intriguing location of South Séítah. This will inform where the rover Perseverance might go next.

Flight 13 covered 210 meters (690 feet) in about 161 seconds moving at a speed of about 3.3 meters per second (7.2 mph). That’s less than half the distance covered in the last flight and its slowest and lowest since early May. The helicopter took 10 photos all aimed in a particular direction.

“For Flight 13, we’ll be capturing images pointing southwest. And when they’re combined with Flight 12’s northeast perspectives, the overlapping images from a lower altitude should provide valuable insight for Perseverance scientists and rover drive planners,” Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity Team Lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote in a blog post for NASA.