The NASA helicopter Ingenuity on Mars made the first powered controlled flights by an aircraft on a planet other than Earth.[1][2] Its first flight was April 19, 2021, after landing February 18 attached to the underside of the Perseverance rover.[3] Ingenuity weighs 1.8 kilograms (4.0 lb) and is 49 cm (19 in) tall. It is powered by six lithium-ion solar-charged batteries.[4] It was built and is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a field center of NASA. It was designed for a 30-day demonstration period, but has operated far above expectations, making its most recent (33rd) flight 523 days after its Martian first takeoff.

List of flights

#	Date (UTC)	Duration (sec)	Altitude	Distance	Max Ground Speed	Route	Summary
Technology Demonstration Phase
1	April 19, 2021 at 07:34 (Sol 59)	39.1	3 m (9.8 ft)	0.05 m (0.16 ft)[5]	0 m/s (0 mph)	Vertical takeoff, hover, land at Wright Brothers Field (JZRO) 18.44486°N 77.45102°E / 18.44486; 77.45102[6]	The first powered flight by any aircraft on another planet. While hovering, it rotated in place 96 degrees in a planned maneuver. Flight data was received at 11:30 UTC.[7][8]
2	April 22, 2021 at 09:33 (Sol 61)	51.9	5 m (16 ft)	4 m (13 ft) Roundtrip	0.5 m/s (1.1 mph)	Hover, shift westward 2 m (6.6 ft), hover, return, hover, land[9][10] 18.44486°N 77.45102°E / 18.44486; 77.45102[6]	From initial hover, it tilted 5 degrees, allowing rotors to fly it 2 meters sideways. It stopped, hovered in place, and rotated counterclockwise, yawing from +90° to 0° to -90° to -180°, in 3 steps, to point its color camera in various directions to take photos. It flew back to the takeoff location and landed.[11]
3	April 25, 2021 at 11:31 (Sol 64)	80.3	5 m (16 ft)	99.97 m (328.0 ft) Roundtrip	2 m/s (4.5 mph)	Hover, shift northward 49.98 m (164.0 ft), return, hover, land[12][13] 18.44486°N 77.45101°E / 18.44486; 77.45101[6]	First flight to venture some distance from the deployment spot. It flew downrange 50 meters at two meters per second, stopped, hovered, then returned and landed at the departure spot.[14] Data from the flight was received at 14:16 UTC.[13]
Transition Phase
4	April 29, 2021[15] (Sol 68)	First attempt of flight 4 failed; onboard software did not transition to flight mode.[16][17][18]
	April 30, 2021 at 14:49[19] (Sol 69)	116.9	5 m (16 ft)	270.46 m (887.3 ft) Roundtrip	3.5 m/s (7.8 mph)	Hover, shift southward 135.23 m (443.7 ft), hover, return, hover, land[20] 18.44486°N 77.45112°E / 18.44486; 77.45112[6]	Took color images while hovering at its farthest point from takeoff.[19] The Perseverance rover recorded both audio and video of Ingenuity in flight,[21] making the helicopter the first interplanetary vehicle whose sound was recorded off Earth.
5	May 7, 2021 at 19:26[22] (Sol 76)	108.2	10 m (33 ft)	130.84 m (429.3 ft)	2 m/s (4.5 mph)	Hover, shift southwards 130.84 m (429.3 ft), climb to 10 m (33 ft), hover, land at Airfield B 18.44267°N 77.45139°E / 18.44267; 77.45139[6]	This was the first flight to land at a new location, 129 m (423 ft) to the south. Arriving above the destination, it gained altitude, hovered, captured color terrain images, then landed at the new site, Airfield B.[23][24] This flight was the last in the technology demonstration phase.
Operation Demonstration Phase
6	May 23, 2021 at 5:20[25] (Sol 92)	139.9	10 m (33 ft)	202.39 m (664.0 ft) with direction changes)	4 m/s (8.9 mph)	Shift southwest about 140.9 m (462 ft), southward about 14.1 m (46 ft), northeast about 46.8 m (154 ft), land at Airfield C 18.44166°N 77.44994°E / 18.44166; 77.44994[6]	At each turn into the flight, colour images were taken. Near the end of the first leg of the route at 54 seconds into flight, a glitch occurred in the navigation images processing system. An image was dropped, and subsequent images with incorrect timestamps resulted in the craft tilting forward and backward up to 20 degrees, with large spikes in power consumption. It flew in that mode until successfully landing about 5 m (16 ft) away from the planned spot, after turning off navigation camera and flying on IMU.[25][26] This was the first time the helicopter had to land at an airfield which was not surveyed by any means other than MRO satellite imagery.[27][28]
7	June 6, 2021[17] (Sol 105)	First attempt of flight 7 failed; onboard software did not transition to flight mode.[17]
	June 8, 2021 at 15:54 (Sol 107)	62.8[29]	10 m (33 ft)[30]	106.34 m (348.9 ft)	4 m/s (8.9 mph)	Shift southward 106.3 m (349 ft) to land at Airfield D 18.43988°N 77.45015°E / 18.43988; 77.45015[6]	Flew to a new landing spot, Airfield D. The color camera was not used to prevent the glitch of flight 6 happening again.[31][32]
8	June 22, 2021 at 0:27[33] (Sol 121)	77.4	10 m (33 ft)	160.48 m (526.5 ft)	4 m/s (8.9 mph)	Shift south south-east 160.48 m (526.5 ft) to land at Airfield E[17] 18.43724°N 77.45079°E / 18.43724; 77.45079[6]	The landing spot was about 133.5 m (438 ft) away from the Perseverance rover. As in the previous flight, the color camera was switched off, pending a software update.[17]
9	July 5, 2021 at 9:03[30] (Sol 134)	166.4	10 m (33 ft)	631.78 m (2,072.8 ft)	5 m/s (11 mph)	Shift southwest 631.79 m (2,070 ft) to Airfield F 18.42809°N 77.44545°E / 18.42809; 77.44545[6]	Flew southwest, over Séítah, a prospective research location in Jezero crater. This flight strained the navigation system, which by design assumes flat ground; Séítah has uneven sand dunes. Controllers had Ingenuity partly compensate by flying slower over the more challenging part of the route. Landing occurred 47 m (154 ft) from the center of the 50 m (160 ft) planned ellipse.[34][5][35][36]
10	July 24, 2021 at 21:07[37] (Sol 152)	165.4[38]	12 m (39 ft) [37]	240.37 m (788.6 ft)[30]	5 m/s (11 mph)	Loop south and west over prospective research location Raised Ridges to Airfield G 18.42808°N 77.44373°E / 18.42808; 77.44373[6]	The helicopter flew past 10 waypoints, including takeoff and landing.[39] The general trajectory of the 10th flight was four chords of a broken oval, thus distance between the takeoff and landing points of about 95 meters.[40]
#	Date (UTC)	Duration (sec)	Altitude	Distance	Max Ground Speed	Route	Summary
11	August 5, 2021 at 4:53[41] (Sol 164)	130.9	12 m (39 ft)	388.29 m (1,273.9 ft)	5 m/s (11 mph)	Shift northwest 388.29 m (1,273.9 ft) to land at Airfield H 18.43278°N 77.43919°E / 18.43278; 77.43919[6]	The flight positioned the craft for a route to take photographs of South Séítah.[41][42] The airfield " H " was the second after "Wright Brothers Field" in terms of the number of departures, and in terms of the total length (1069 m) and duration of these flights (481.8 s), as well as the parking time of the helicopter (3 months, from August 5 to November 6) airfield " H " even outstripped the cradle of Martian aeronautics.
12	August 16, 2021 at 12:57[43] (Sol 174)	169.5	10 m (33 ft)	448.21 m (1,470.5 ft) Roundtrip	4.3 m/s (9.6 mph)	Takeoff and return to Airfield H again 18.43268°N 77.43924°E / 18.43268; 77.43924[6]	The return path was about 5 m (16 ft) to the side to allow another attempt to take paired images for stereo imagery. Landing was about 25 m (82 ft) east from the takeoff point.[44] This filght was decisive for the subsequent fate of the helicopter, which then got its mission extended after August.[45] It also gave images that appeared uninteresting to the rover team, forbading to enter that region.[46]
13	September 5, 2021 at 00:10[47] (Sol 194)	160.5	8 m (26 ft)	209.4 m (687 ft) Roundtrip	3.3 m/s (7.4 mph)	Takeoff and return to Airfield H again 18.43285°N 77.43915°E / 18.43285; 77.43915[6]	The flight northeast and back concentrated on one particular ridgeline and outcrops in South Séítah.
14	September 18, 2021 (Sol 207)	A flight attempt at a faster rotor spin rate of 2700 rpm was automatically canceled due to a servo motor anomaly.[48] Three days earlier, September 15, Ingenuity successfully ground tested a rotor spin rate of 2800 rpm.[49] Servo motor "wiggle" tests were done on September 21 and 23 to diagnose the problem that prevented flight.[48][50] More ground tests and another flight attempt were postponed until after solar conjunction. Then, on October 21, NASA/JPL reported a successful 50 rpm ground test.[51] Ingenuity made its 14th flight three days later.
	October 24, 2021 at 8:18 (Sol 242)[30]	23.0	5 m (16 ft)	2.18 m (7.2 ft)	0.5 m/s (1.1 mph)	Hover, shift eastward 2.18 m (7.2 ft), hover, land again near Airfield H[48] 18.43284°N 77.43920°E / 18.43284; 77.43920[6]	The brief flight verified use of the faster rotor spin of 2700 rpm, needed during seasonal lower atmospheric density on Mars.[52][53]
15	November 6, 2021 at 16:22 (Sol 254)	128.8	12 m (39 ft)	410.27 m (1,346.0 ft)	5 m/s (11 mph)	Shift southeast 411.3 m (1,349 ft) to land at Airfield F 18.42871°N 77.44501°E / 18.42871; 77.44501[6]	First in a series of four to seven flights on a return journey to Wright Brothers Field, due to the low atmospheric pressure and varied relief features. This leg ended in the Raised Ridges region.[54][55]
16	November 21, 2021 at 2:09[56] (Sol 269)	107.9	10 m (33 ft)	116.99 m (383.8 ft)	1.5 m/s (3.4 mph)	Shift northeast 116.99 m (383.8 ft) to land at Airfield J 18.43013°N 77.44645°E / 18.43013; 77.44645[6]	Landed near the edge of South Séítah, prior to crossing that area on multiple impending flights.
17	December 5, 2021 at 12:25 (Sol 282)	116.8	10 m (33 ft)	187.36 m (614.7 ft)	2.5 m/s (5.6 mph)	Shift northeast 187.7 m (616 ft) to land at Airfield K 18.43306°N 77.44771°E / 18.43306; 77.44771	Flew halfway across South Séítah along the heading of flight 9 but in the reverse direction.[57] The helicopter lost communication with the rover during final descent, roughly 3 m (10 ft) above the grounddue to 5-meter Bras outcrop ib between, but JPL believed the flight was a success, based on available telemetry.[58] On Sol 285, Ingenuity relayed more information which suggested the helicopter was upright, based on the solar arrays charging the batteries, which could not be done if the helicopter fell sideways. JPL said local terrain and Perseverance positioning probably interrupted communication.[59]
18	December 15, 2021 at 17:27[60][61] (Sol 292)	124.3	10 m (33 ft)	231.56 m (759.7 ft)	2.5 m/s (5.6 mph)	Shift northeast 231.8 m (760 ft) to land near the northern edge of South Séítah at Airfield L18.43623°N 77.45011°E / 18.43623; 77.45011	Flew across South Séítah in the reverse of the flight 9 heading and landed near flight 9 takeoff spot. This was another in a series of flights returning Ingenuity to Wright Brothers Field. Airfield L has featureless sandy terrain, chosen for the lack of rocks for safe landing. The area is actually so devoid of rock that the helicopter sent warnings due to insufficient features for the vision navigation to track. JPL planned to update software fault protection parameters to reduce the risk of a premature landing on Flight 19.
19	Between December 20, 2021 (Sol 297) and February 3 2022 (Sol 341)	The first attempt of flight 19 was postponed due to a dust storm approaching Jezero Crater, the first time weather delayed a flight of an airborne vehicle on a celestial object other than Earth.[62] The storm reduced sunlight by 18 percent on Ingenuity's solar array, which charges its batteries, and warm dust lowered the surrounding air density by seven percent, which could have exceeded Ingenuity's ability to generate adequate lift. JPL waited over a month for the air to clear and the helicopter to regain its pre-storm power generating ability.[62][63] The storm deposited dust on the navigation camera window. To prevent navigation errors, JPL uploaded a new image mask file in late January that ignores certain regions of the image. Dust and sand also accumulated in all the swashplate assemblies. Repeated actuator self-tests and servo-wiggles cleared the debris.
	February 8, 2022 at 04:21[64][63] (Sol 345)	99.8	10 m (33 ft)	61.19 m (200.8 ft)	1 m/s (2.2 mph)	Shift northeast 61.6 m (202 ft) to land just above the eastern ridge of South Séítah at Airfield E 18.43700°N 77.45080°E / 18.43700; 77.45080	The helicopter flew out of South Séítah basin, across a dividing ridge and up to the main plateau, near the landing site of Flight 8. Images taken during Flight 9 were used to select a safe zone. The flight was another in a series to return to Wright Brothers Field. This gradual approach is due to lack of large landing sites in the area and lower atmospheric density in the summer, which requires higher rotor speeds and more power. The flight plan called for the helicopter to turn nearly 180 degrees before landing to aim its color camera toward the river delta for future flights.
20	February 25, 2022 at 13:35[65][66] (Sol 362)	130.3	10 m (33 ft)	392.27 m (1,287.0 ft)	4.4 m/s (9.8 mph)	Shift northwest 392.27 m (1,287.0 ft) flying across Séítah to land at Airfield M 18.44337°N 77.44859°E / 18.44337; 77.44859	Ingenuity continued its journey back toward its original flight zone, landing just southwest of Wright Brothers Field. From there, it will take a shortcut to the Jezero Crater river delta, flying northwest across Séítah, while Perseverance drives around the region to the "Three Forks" a at the foot of the slopes, on the tops of which three dry channels (sleeves) of the Neretva flow.[67] The latest auto-navigation system allows Perseverance to break away from Ingenuity in a few sols, and therefore the helicopter had to go on a campaign first and in advance.[68]
#	Date (UTC)	Duration (sec)	Altitude	Distance	Max Ground Speed	Route	Summary
21	March 10, 2022 at 22:10[69][70] (Sol 375)	129.2	10 m (33 ft)	374.4 m (1,228 ft)	3.85 m/s (8.6 mph)	Shift northwest flying across Seìtah to land at Airfield N 18.44514°N 77.44219°E / 18.44514; 77.44219	First in a series of flights to a position near the base of the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater to scout ahead for Perseverance.[note 1]
22	March 20, 2022 at 4:06[71] (Sol 385)	101.4	10 m (33 ft)	70.4 m (231 ft)	1 m/s (2.2 mph)	Shift northeast flying across northwest Seìtah to land again within Airfield N 18.44610°N 77.44292°E / 18.44610; 77.44292	Second flight toward position near base of the delta. Ingenuity flew only 70.4 m (231 ft), not the planned ~350 m (1,150 ft).[note 1]
23	March 24, 2022 at 6:44 [72] (Sol 389)	129.1	10 m (33 ft)	374.886 m (1,229.94 ft)	4 m/s (8.9 mph)	Shift northeast and then northwest flying across Seìtah to land at Airfield P 18.44508°N 77.44345°E / 18.44508; 77.44345	Another flight on the way to a position near the base of the delta. The flight was complex, including a sharp turn to avoid a large hill. In deciding the remaining route to the delta, the mission team considered multiple factors: thermal (temperature of helicopter parts), atmospheric, flight time, navigation drift, landing site terrain, and keeping up with the rover.[note 1][73]
24	April 3, 2022 at 12:49[73][5] (Sol 398)	69.8	10 m (33 ft)	47.54 m (156.0 ft)	1.45 m/s (3.2 mph)	Shift northwest flying across Seìtah to land again at Airfield P 18.44508°N 77.44246°E / 18.44508; 77.44246	Fourth of five sorties crossing the Séítah region. Rotors spun at 2,537 rpm, a reduction from 2,700 rpm used since flight 14; this was a return to the slower rate of the earliest flights. Increasing air density allowed the reduction, as the thin air of the ending Martian summer was being replaced by fall's denser air. The short flight positioned Ingenuity for a long flight to approach its destination near the delta.[note 1][73] The date of flight 24 marked one year since Ingenuity's deployment to the surface from Perseverance.
25	April 8, 2022 at 16:40[74] (Sol 403)	161.3	10 m (33 ft)	708.91 m (2,325.8 ft)	5.50 m/s (12.3 mph)	Shift northwest flying over Seìtah, land at staging area Airfield Q 18.45477°N 77.43058°E / 18.45477; 77.43058	Longest distance and highest speed of any flight so far. The mission team chose a route that avoided flying over hardware that was discarded and fell to the surface during the rover's entry-descent-landing (EDL) and might have caused unexpected performance from Ingenuity's laser altimeter and visual navigation system. This flight brought the helicopter out of the Séítah region.[73]
26	April 19, 2022[75][76] at 1:32[77] (Sol 414)	159.0	8 m (26 ft)	391.18 m (1,283.4 ft)	3.80 m/s (8.5 mph)	Shift southeast, southwest, and then northwest to land at Airfield R 18.45163°N 77.43046°E / 18.45163; 77.43046	Ingenuity flew closer to the delta and took color photos of the EDL debris, including the spacecraft backshell and parachute.[76]
27	April 23, 2022 at 4:11[78][6] (Sol 418)	153.9	10 m (33 ft)	304.96 m (1,000.5 ft)	3 m/s (6.7 mph)	Shift slightly southeast, then southwest, and then northwest to land at Airfield S 18.45252°N 77.42636°E / 18.45252; 77.42636	Ingenuity flew closer to the delta capturing the images of crater ridgeline.
28	April 29, 2022 at 7:44[79][6] (Sol 424)	152.9	10 m (33 ft)	420.94 m (1,381.0 ft)	3.6 m/s (8.1 mph)	Shift northwest to land at Airfield T 18.45714°N 77.42068°E / 18.45714; 77.42068	Ingenuity flew closer to the delta. This flight was the fifth in April - there has not been such an intensity of flights since the demonstration program, when 4 flights were made in April 2021.
29	May 26, 2022 (Sol 450)	High-speed spin test of the rotor blades.[80][81]
	June 11, 2022 at 15:06[82][30] (Sol 465)	66.6	10 m (33 ft)	181.96 m (597.0 ft)	5.50 m/s (12.3 mph)	Shift southwest to land at Airfield U 18.45597°N 77.41768°E / 18.45597; 77.41768	First flight without the use of its inclinometer and in the cold of Martian winter.[81]
30	August 6, 2022 (Sol 520) and August 15, 2022 (Sol 529)[83]	one low-speed spin test of 50 and one high-speed spin test 2,573 rpm of the rotor blades to take a health check of the helicopter.
	August 20, 2022 at 12:38[84][85] (Sol 534)	33.3	5 m (16 ft)	2.35 m (7.7 ft)	0.5 m/s (1.1 mph)	Dogleg sideways and land again at Airfield U 18.455973°N 77.41764°E / 18.455973; 77.41764	First flight after the dust season and first in more than two months. Intended to measure how accurately Ingenuity can still fly to a specified target after a long period of inactivity.
31	September 6, 2022 at 23:31[86] (Sol 550)	55.6	10 m (33 ft)	97.2 m (319 ft)	4.75 m/s (10.6 mph)	Shift westwards and land at Airfield V 18.455821°N 77.415911°E / 18.455821; 77.415911	Reposition helicopter.
32	September 18, 2022 at 06:46 (Sol 562)[30]	55.3	10 m (33 ft)	94.36 m (309.6 ft)	4.75 m/s (10.6 mph)	Shift northwestwards and land at Airfield W 18.455924°N 77.414237°E / 18.455924; 77.414237	The flight objectives are similar due to same energy consumption assumptions as in the previous two flights: ~56 seconds at a speed of 4.75 m/s.
33	September 24, 2022 at 11:15 (Sol 568)[30]	55.6	10 m (33 ft)	112.28 m (368.4 ft)	4.75 m/s (10.6 mph)	Shift westwards and land at Airfield X 18.455623°N 77.412265°E / 18.455623; 77.412265	Reposition the helicopter. A small piece of foreign object debris (FOD) was seen clinging to the bottom right leg of the helicopter in footage from the navigation camera (Navcam) for a portion of this flight. It was not visible in Navcam footage from the previous flight. The debris is from the earliest frames to approximately halfway through the video, when it fell from the leg and drifted back to the Mars surface. All telemetry from the flight and a post-flight search were normal and showed no indication of vehicle damage. JPL tried to find the source of the debris.[87]

Flight totals

See also

• ARES – 2008 robotic Mars aircraft proposal
• Atmosphere of Mars
• Dragonfly – Robotic rotorcraft mission to Saturn's moon Titan, planned launch in 2027
• Exploration of Mars
• List of artificial objects on Mars
• List of firsts in aviation

Notes

References

Citations

Status reports

External links

• Mars Helicopter Technology Demonstrator. (PDF) – The key design features of the prototype drone.
• First Video of NASA's Ingenuity helicopter in flight – via YouTube.
• Perseverance route map — including the flight tracks of Ingenuity
• Explore Mars

На других языках

[ru] Список полётов Ingenuity