With conjunction over and our first flight at 2,700 RPM behind us, Ingenuity is able to start the journey again to the Wright Brothers Discipline on the Octavia E. Butler touchdown web site, earlier than venturing past. The above determine depicts the mission forward of Ingenuity, which is to hitch Perseverance within the trek north alongside the east fringe of Séítah, earlier than touring west to achieve the Jezero historic river delta. To perform this feat, the Ingenuity workforce is planning a collection of 4-7 flights to return to Wright Brothers Discipline. Alongside the way in which the venture is contemplating getting ready a flight software program improve for our helicopter which is able to doubtlessly allow new navigation capabilities onboard, and higher put together Ingenuity for the challenges forward.
Flight #15 is the beginning of our journey again to Wright Brothers Discipline. Happening no sooner than Saturday, Nov. 6 at 9:22 a.m. PT, or 12:03 LMST (native Mars time), the 254th sol (Martian day) of the Perseverance mission, Flight #15 will return Ingenuity again to the Raised Ridges area, imaged in Flight #10. On this flight the helicopter will traverse 1,332 ft (406 meters) throughout 130 seconds of flight, travelling at 11.1 mph (5 mps) groundspeed. We’ll seize coloration return-to-earth (RTE) excessive decision (13MP) photos, one post-takeoff pointed to the SW, and 9 pointed towards the NW alongside the flight-path. Nominal altitude for the flight is anticipated to be 39.3 ft (12 meters) above floor stage.
This would be the second flight of Ingenuity throughout Mars’ summer season low air-density, requiring that the rotor blades are spun at 2,700 RPM to compensate. This flight will generate essential high-RPM motor efficiency, which the workforce will use to design and tailor upcoming low-density flights within the months forward.
Under is an up to date ledger of a few of the most essential numbers for Ingenuity’s Mars flights thus far. Together with these listed beneath, we’ve taken 83 13-megapixel coloration photos, 1,772 black-and-white navigation digicam photos, and carried out two flight software program upgrades alongside the way in which.
| Since Deployment (April 3, 2021/Sol 43) |
In Tech Demo | In Ops Demo | % Above Tech Demo | |
| Sols Achieved (as of final Heli downlink) |
203 | 31 | 172 | 554% |
| Num. Flights | 14 | 5 | 9 | 180% |
| Distance Flown (m) | 2883 m (~1.55 nmiles) |
499 m | 2384 m | 477% |
| Time Flown (s) | 1492 s (24 min 52 s) | 396 s | 1096 s | 276% |
