NASA’s Mars helicopter soars higher on 2nd f light

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — NASA’s little Mars helicopter aced its second test flight Thursday, soaring even higher and longer than before.

The 1.8-kilogram chopper, Ingenuity, hovered longer and also flew side to side this time, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It achieved the intended altitude of five metres and even accelerated sideways two metres. This hop lasted 52 seconds, 13 seconds longer than the first one.

The success came just three days after Ingenuity made the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet.

Flight controllers had to wait four hours before learning Thursday’s outcome. Like it did during Monday’s three-metrehigh hop, the helicopter sent back a black-and-white photo showing its shadow against the dusty, rock-strewn surface.

“It sounds simple, but there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars,” Ingenuity’s chief pilot, Havard Grip, said in a statement. “That’s why we’re here — to make these unknowns known.”

One of the challenges is the planet’s extremely thin atmosphere — 1% that of Earth’s.

NASA plans up to three more test flights in the next 1½ weeks, venturing higher each time with more complicated acrobatics. Ingenuity hitched a ride to Mars on the rover Perseverance, which photographed the proceedings from more than 60 metres away. The rover team allotted one month for the $85-million US tech demo; The clock started ticking when Ingenuity was released from Perseverance’s belly on April 3.

“We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity,” chief engineer Bob Balaram said in a statement.