NASA has released unidentified footage of an aircraft flying over the Mars surface, taking the Perseverance rover. That video shows the 54th flight of the Martian helicopter, who took off, hovered and turned five meters to test the navigation system.

Source of image: NASA, JPL, Caltech, etc.

After an accident was reported during one of the flights, the helicopter was forced to land immediately. NASA experts examine all the systems carefully to ensure that the helicopter meets all of the standards of the operating system before continuing the mission.

At the beginning, the Ingenuity Martian helicopter was assigned a demonstration task. It successfully completed a historic flight on April 19, 2021, the first powered plane on another planet. Since that helicopter was launched, its companion, the Perseverance rover, was honored by that. NASA engineers directing Ingenuity towards potentially interesting areas of Mars in search of microbial life.

If Ingenuity finds a place worth exploring, NASA engineers use helicopters flight data and navigation cameras to plan the best way to catch the rover. This record is valuable because it helps NASA scientists identify potential risks to the rover, plan effective routes and prepare for the next scientific experiments.

Ingenuity is a scout, studying the surface of Mars. His success forced the NASA to reconsider its position towards the use of helicopters on the red planet. The space agency is considering the building of several helicopters powered by Ingenuity next generation that can carry payloads.

These shipments are very likely to be samples of the Martian soil and minerals that will eventually be brought back to the Earth. In addition, in case of delays in the main mission to transport these samples, NASA is considering new Martian helicopters as a stepback.

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