NASA EXTENDS THE MARS HELICOPTER MISSION, TESTING IT FOR ACTUAL MISSION OPS

April 30, 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

^{(Apr 30, 2021;Syfy Bad Astronomy)}

Droning on and on is usually boring, but in this case it's actually pretty exciting: NASA is extending the mission for the Mars Ingenuity helicopter drone! And it's entering a new phase, too, going from technology demonstration to operations demonstration, meaning it's not just seeing if the new technology works on Mars at all, but actually showing that it can be used to aid in the exploration of the planet.

This new mission phase starts with Flight number six, which should take place in a couple of weeks. On Friday Ingenuity flew for the fourth time off the surface of Mars, climbing to an altitude of 5 meters and then sliding south for over 130 meters before returning to its spot near the Perseverance rover. It was in the air for about 117 seconds.

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