On April 22, the Ingenuity drone helicopter made a new flight. It has already become the 51st for the rotorcraft explorer of Mars.
The purpose of the last flight was aerial reconnaissance of the route for the Perseverance rover. Now engineers are using the drone as an aerial scout for the rover. Ingenuity moves in the vanguard in front of it, photographing the surrounding terrain. Next, experts analyze the images taken by the drone for potential dangers to Perseverance, and then form its route.
In total, the 51st flight lasted 136.9 seconds, during which Ingenuity covered a distance of 188 meters. The maximum flight altitude was 12 meters, the speed was 4 meters per second.
Ingenuity also transmitted a number of images to Earth. One of them is of particular interest. In its upper left corner you can see Perseverance.
Earlier, Perseverance took the first close photo of Ingenuity in two years. A layer of dust accumulated on the drone’s vanes and solar battery is clearly visible on it.
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