NASA Helicopter Captures View of the Martian Desert but Has a Long Flight Ahead
upstart writes:
Daring NASA helicopter captures stunning view of the Martian desert:
NASA's trusty helicopter will soon enter some precarious terrain.
The aerial craft Ingenuity is headed to a dried-up river delta in the Jezero Crater, a land filled "with jagged cliffs, angled surfaces, projecting boulders, and sand-filled pockets that could stop a rover in its tracks (or upend a helicopter upon landing)," says NASA.
But first, it must fly there.
Over a series of at least three flights, NASA will send Ingenuity across an expanse of desert dubbed "Seitah." The space agency released an image from a trip across this terrain, captured in midair using Ingenuity's high-resolution color camera.
The Ingenuity helicopter, an experimental robot, has vastly exceeded engineers' expectations. NASA hoped to prove it could fly something on Mars. Now, the helicopter has flown over 21 times, and its next journey is expected to span some 1,150 feet - while avoiding a hill.
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