Ingenuity completes 48th flight on Mars
Click for interactive map.
On March 21, 2023 the Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed its 48th flight on Mars, flying 1,305 feet for 149.9 seconds with a top altitude of 39 feet. As has now become routine on all the recent flights, the distance and time in the air exceeded slightly the planned amounts, probably because Ingenuity needed slightly more time to find a good landing spot.
The link provides a very short movie created from images looking down during the flight.
The map to the right provides the context. The green dot and line indicates Ingenuity’s new position and flight path respectively. The blue dot marks Perseverance’s present location, a spot the mission planners had previously targeted as a prime place for obtaining core samples. The red dotted line shows the rover’s planned route.
Since the science team is now using Ingenuity for scouting purposes, its turn towards the rim of Belva Crater suggests they are considering this detour for Perseverance as well.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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Click for interactive map.
On March 21, 2023 the Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed its 48th flight on Mars, flying 1,305 feet for 149.9 seconds with a top altitude of 39 feet. As has now become routine on all the recent flights, the distance and time in the air exceeded slightly the planned amounts, probably because Ingenuity needed slightly more time to find a good landing spot.
The link provides a very short movie created from images looking down during the flight.
The map to the right provides the context. The green dot and line indicates Ingenuity’s new position and flight path respectively. The blue dot marks Perseverance’s present location, a spot the mission planners had previously targeted as a prime place for obtaining core samples. The red dotted line shows the rover’s planned route.
Since the science team is now using Ingenuity for scouting purposes, its turn towards the rim of Belva Crater suggests they are considering this detour for Perseverance as well.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I was skeptical at first, yet each of it’s missions make me smile.