For this second flight test at Wright Brothers Field, Ingenuity took off at 5:33 a.m. EDT (2:33 a.m. PDT), or 12:33 p.m. local Mars time. But where Flight One topped out at 10 feet above the surface, Ingenuity climbed to 16 feet this time. After the helicopter hovered briefly, its flight control system performed a slight (5°) tilt, allowing some of the thrust from the counter-rotating rotors to accelerate the craft sideways for 7 feet, NASA officials reported.
NASA
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter makes historic first flight on Mars
The Ingenuity helicopter’s first flight on Mars was made at what NASA officials have named Wright Brothers Field on the red planet. “We have been thinking for so long about having our Wright brothers moment on Mars, and here it is,” said MiMi Aung, project manager of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. “We will take a moment to celebrate our success and then take a cue from Orville and Wilbur regarding what to do next. History shows they got back to work – to learn as much as they could about their new aircraft – and so will we.”
Fabric from first Wright Flyer on Mars
In 1969, the Wright family gave Neil Armstrong a piece of the 1903 flyer fabric to take with him to the Moon. In 1998, Carillon Park and the family gave John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, a piece of the fabric to take with him on his flight in the Space Shuttle.
Alcohol wipes tied to electric problems in the cockpit
Use of alcohol wipes believed to be shorting out wires in airline cockpits.
NASA flight tests provide a drone road map
The nearly decade-long flight test program is designed to safely integrate drones into the National Airspace System.
One step closer to integrating drones into the National Airspace System
NASA’s remotely-piloted Ikhana aircraft, based at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, successfully flew its first mission in the National Airspace System without a safety chase aircraft on June 12, 2018. This historic flight moves the United States one step closer to normalizing unmanned aircraft operations in the airspace used by commercial […]
Researcher explores lost Tuskegee Airmen’s aircraft
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — Finding an aircraft wing, machine guns, cannon balls, shackles, a cock pit door and other artifacts from a crashed Tuskegee Airmen’s aircraft in the cold waters of Lake Huron may not sound as glamorous as treasure hunting for gold or silver. But Erik Denson said the treasures he finds while diving […]
Tecnam delivers second P2006T to NASA for electric propulsion program
NASA has acquired a second Tecnam P2006T fuselage to speed the evaluating process of Leading Edge Asynchronous Technology (LEAPtech), with the aim of developing safer, more energy efficient, and greener general aviation aircraft. X-57 is the first NASA X-plane to feature a fully distributed electric propulsion system, which researchers will use to demonstrate an increase […]
GA pilots help monitor Lake Erie algal blooms
It’s only a matter of time before the harmful algal bloom that has plagued Lake Erie begins to grow along the western basin and elsewhere this summer. This year, however, there will be a new tool employed to monitor the problem and spread the word to residents about toxic cyanobacteria. Dr. Rafat Ansari, senior scientist […]