Science
Related: About this forumMars Ingenuity drone flies length of football field - video
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Nasa's Ingenuity helicopter stretched its rotors on Sunday 25 April, taking its third flight on Mars.
The flight was Nasa's most ambitious to date, with Ingenuity rising to a height of five metres and then accelerating horizontally for 50 metres before returning to its take-off point.
Nasas Mars helicopter in first powered, controlled flight on another planet
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Source: Nasa
Mon 26 Apr 2021 01.22 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2021/apr/26/mars-ingenuity-drone-flies-length-of-football-field-video
Rhiannon12866
(206,006 posts)Go, Ingenuity!
modrepub
(3,502 posts)Not that I doubt the authenticity of this flight but I'm curious why the craft didn't kick up any dust on its take off or landing.
Surface air pressure on Mars is about 1% of the Earth's if I'm not mistaken. Is there just not a lot of dust in this area? Seems unlikely given a lot of the solar equipment on other Mars craft loose power because dust accumulates on their panels.
eppur_se_muova
(36,289 posts)If nothing else, that means dust falls back down much faster than on Earth. Dust in a vacuum falls just as fast as gravel or boulders; at 0.01 atm it can't be much slower. It's true Mars' gravity is about 40% of Earth's, but that also means the drone needs only 40% as much thrust to lift off.