A drone flies over the Martian mountains. NASA showed the video

Astronomy

Thursday, March 16 (8:28 pm)

The first-ever drone on Mars called Ingenuity is spectacularly successful. During its 47th flight, the rover photographed it in the background with mountains.

NASA astronomers are delighted with the achievements and capabilities of this small flying device. Drone named Ingenuity was supposed to make only 5 flights, but has already completed 47 and there is no end in sight. During the latest flight, the device soared to a height of 12 meters and accelerated to 19 km / h, and after only 138 seconds it covered as much as 429 meters.

The course of this breakneck mission was documented in the recording made by the Perseverance rover via navigation cameras. On it you can see taking off, rising into the air and unmanned aerial vehicle moving against the background of the mountains.

The first drone on Mars flies over the mountains

It’s amazing that the drone allows you to move around Mars much faster and more efficiently from the most advanced rovers. Thanks to it, astronomers obtain a lot of extremely valuable data about the planet’s surface. It is impossible not to mention that the drone found interesting places to collect samples for the rover.

Ingenuity is always one step away from Perseverance. It is he who first surveys a given area for research, and then the rover is sent there. In future missions, NASA plans to send a whole swarm of small drones to the Red Planet or one bigger. These machines are supposed to speed up the process of searching for signs of life there.

(1/2) On Thursday – March 9 this year. (Sol 729) – Ingenuity’s Martian helicopter will make its forty-seventh flight in the Martian atmosphere (the tenth in 2023!). Launch took place around 4:08 p.m. local solar time on Mars. pic.twitter.com/ah9ykDASs8

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Drone searches for signs of life on Mars

Scientists believe that organisms unknown to us could have existed along the riverbeds and in lakes. That’s why the rover and the drone are in the Jezero crater, which was a body of water. Research indicates that organisms could have a biological form, i.e. similar to us, but they do not rule out that completely alien creatures could also appear there.

NASA wants to deliver samples from Mars taken by the Perseverance rover to Earth orbit by a rocket Mars Ascent Vehicle in 2033. There they are to be taken over by the Earth Return Orbiter probe. It will land in the Utah desert. Scientists are almost certain that the samples contain traces of life that once existed on Mars. Thus, in 2033, we may witness a breakthrough in the study of the Universe.