NASA’s Mars rover, Perseverance, is entering its first year of life on Mars. Perseverance is equipped with Ingenuity, a small robot helicopter. It is for a flight test on a planet other than Earth, and the mission is exceeding expectations. Perseverance succeeded in filming Ingenuity, which left a record but was rarely seen flying, attracting attention.
If you look at the two videos released by NASA, you can see the 13th flight of Ingenuity on September 4th. The flight time is 16 seconds, the flight distance is 213 m, and the altitude is 8 m. The film was taken 300 meters away by Mastcam-Z, a dual camera system installed by Perseverance.
NASA explained that even if it is 300 meters away, it is possible to grasp the takeoff and landing in close-up with the right lens of the Mastcam-Z. At the same time, in the wide view captured by the left lens, the helicopter looks like a small dot, but you can understand the environment Ingenuity is exploring.
Ingenuity is being programmed to speed up to match the thin air due to seasonal changes on Mars. The Ingenuity navigation system is an automatic system using AI. It flies while constantly monitoring the wind speed and the shape of the land in the flight environment. Related information can be found here.