Two Views of a High-Altitude Flight for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

As NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter made its 59th flight on Mars - achieving its second highest altitude while taking pictures of this flight - the Perseverance Mars rover was watching. See two perspectives of this 142-second flight that reached an altitude of 66 feet (20 meters). This flight took place on Sept.16, 2023.
In this side-by-side video, you’ll see the perspective from Perseverance on the left, which was captured by the rover’s Mastcam-Z imager from about 180 feet (55 meters) away. On the right, you’ll see the perspective from Ingenuity, which was taken by its downward-pointing Navigation Camera (Navcam). During Flight 59, Ingenuity hovered at different altitudes to check Martian wind patterns. The highest altitude achieved in this flight was 66 feet. At the time, that was a record for the helicopter.
Ingenuity is the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet. It has completed 66 flights since April 19, 2021. That far exceeds its originally planned technology demonstration of up to five flights. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and manages operations for Ingenuity and Perseverance. Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument on Perseverance, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.
Not only did Ingenuity break a record with this flight, it was part of an experimental test to help teams design the next generation of Martian helicopters. Learn more: go.nasa.gov/49LwdDk
For more information on Ingenuity, go to: mars.nasa.gov/ingenuity
For a log of all Ingenuity’s flights, go to: mars.nasa.gov/technology/heli...
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

[@CDRaff]

"We'll get maybe five flights out of this thing."

[@jaypaint4855]

*Spirit and Opportunity rovers intensifies*

[@therealjamespickering]

If it were made in China, then yes.

[@jaydonbooth4042]

Set worst-case expectations accordingly and then impress when it actually lasts way longer than "expected"(they know there's a good chance it'll last longer).

[@Chris-bg8mk]

Engineers plan for the worst, and often get the best! 😊

[@AngelMass]

The next mars mission will arrive and this thing is going to be flying around still

[@watonemillion]

With an atmosphere 1% as thick as Earth's, this is pretty impressive

[@augl2702]

Achieving flight on another planet is an accomplishment that gets overlooked, in my opinion. These missions are huge milestones in exploration. Thanks for the footage, JPL.

[@saritaschwedes8393]

that’s so amazing to see!! congrats to all human and non humans for this achievement! 🌸

[@ThatOpalGuy]

this machine is a marvel. people can do so many remarkable things....except get along. why cant we achieve that?

[@BradiKal61]

"A triumph" seems like an inadequate expression to describe this achievement

[@magecraft2]

Must admit even when you set aside the whole helicopter on another world angle, I am always awestruck of the images showing the surface of another planet so clearly !!!

[@atauni0158]

Thanks For All Ingenuity.. 😢❤

[@TheSpaceflightGuy]

This footage is incredible. I cant wait to see what NASA sends up in the future. Based on how successful Ingenuity is i bet they will send another and more advanced one.

[@jaydonbooth4042]

They already changed the Mars Sample Return plans to use a helicopter to collect samples rather than a rover as was originally planned, will make it a much quicker operation.

[@Jayfive276]

Little Ginny showing off while Uncle Percy takes a nap.

[@NightBazaar]

That was so cool to see. Thanks JPL! 👍

[@nevillepass]

You must have great batteries! also just realized you have to take off and land on flat ground otherwise it could roll over on a slope,tricky!!😁👍

[@katherineweber8955]

Wow! It's so awesome that it's still going! You'll are amazing!

[@Pottery4Life]

An amazing achievement. Congratulations to all the teams so far. Looking forward to the NextGen Copter on Mars.

[@jebus456]

The shadow makes it look like a giant mosquito lol Well done all!!

[@Quethecat]

Mosquito has only two wings, more like a dragonfly 😊

[@Felenari]

Amazing.

[@Rmm1722]

Awesome good luck guys 🎉

[@kellykelly7747]

I didn't realize Mars had clouds like this video shows. Great flight!

[@Left4Coragem]

It's not a cloud, the sky is white.

[@SalilingAway]

Dues to the lack of an atmosphere, which bends the light based on wavelenght, all colours reach the surface in the same amount unlike earth which has a slightly higher amount of blue than red. At leat thats what I understood is the reason.

[@SRC267]

​@@Left4Coragemdoes the white sky turn dark/black like earth

[@Left4Coragem]

@@SRC267 Of course, Mars have days and nights like any other planet and moon that is not tidally-locked.

[@MisterItchy]

@@Left4Coragem The planet or moon would have to be tidally locked to the sun and I don't think any are. The moon is tidally locked to the earth so the day/night cycle is roughly equal to the time it takes to orbit earth.

[@shunpillay]

Bravo! Beautiful!

[@brillbond7878]

Balanced weather condition.😊

[@dissaid]

Very cool...😎😎😎

[@markbass_trojanthinking]

Amazing

[@hazemalbasha4074]

U must have a good navigation skills to land and fly this , along with top notch technical knowledge or technology 🎉thanks!

[@o0Bacher0o]

Wow - Just wow

[@aliyardimoglu5629]

Genuine job......

[@johnfraser6013]

Go, little fella 👍👍

[@platinpalladium]

RIP Ingenuity

[@matthewhenson2421]

Well done.

[@luxordeathbed]

This thing is STILL flying?! Nice.

[@tiagobelo4965]

Kinda wild that we can just transfer videos from different planets these days, man I love science.

[@PelczarTomasz]

Best regards...

[@antoniosimoes3247]

✨💯✨

[@enzofitzhume7320]

👍👍

[@im_novacon_]

Onwards and upwards

[@titopancho]

i have so many questions here: 1- how is possible that a camera recording a 15.4 Frames per second (FPS) will grab the image of a motor with a speed of 2,400 RPM? i don't think the blad shadows will be visible this way. 2- all the flight from the mars heli, project a shadow down, so, the light source should be on top all the time, on the left image you dont noticed that the day is that bright in order to project a shadow like that... can someone explain this to me?

[@thecma3]

1. Whether or not the rotors are visible in a frame depends on the shutter speed, not the frame rate. Even at 15 FPS, the blades can be visible if each frame is only captured over, say, 1/4000 of a second. 2. I think they generally fly around midday to have the best viewing for the onboard camera, which is why the shadow is usually directly below the heli. To me, the sky and surface look quite bright in the left image which makes sense.

[@loqAtMefi]

They're probably using a CCD image sensor. CCD imaging chips are much faster than CMOS image sensors as found in smartphones or modern digital cameras. Most CCDs read out the whole sensor array at once, while most CMOS sensors have to read/scan lines or do rolling shutters. While CCD is based on much older technology than CMOS, it's still the camera/vision sensor of choice for things like robotics or industrial machine vision due to the high shutter/frame rates and sensitivity.

[@mortysmith666]

That looks habitable, let's go there

[@Mp57navy]

Hmmmm. I love cancer!

[@TheMoneypresident]

Need one to check out lava tubes.

[@Spakianor]

That's a pretty short shutter time for the limited amount of light you got there 😮

[@advancedmicrosystems4658]

Its not like that its dark on Mars...

[@farrider3339]

Me want to have 5 of'em up there and do aerobatics and other miraculous thingsb🤩👌

[@IbnBahtuta]

I heard rumors and wondered if NASA will choose to fly swarms of drones around Mars, and what they will look like and be capable of doing. Autonomising space exploration is the least wasteful in energy which is why the money people will do everything they can to keep humans out of this. The tech to keep humans alive in space is too expensive and too complex. With complexity comes a multitude of potential "game killer" points of failure. To make vehicles human rated is very expensive and it is hard to achieve. I hope NASA invests heavily in the autonomous and minimises human exploration. The team for the IMH must be walking on air, so o speak. The future for that team looks very bright and like many, I wait in anticipation for their next project to Mars. Thanks for a great upload.

[@shoggoth8808]

A human geologist on Mars can discover more in 15 minutes than any robot can in 5 years. And with remote cameras you'll never get the insight that comes from actually being there. Beyond mere exploration, eventually humans will live full-time on the Moon and Mars and throughout the solar system.

[@IbnBahtuta]

@@shoggoth8808 You are clueless, check out why medically your geologist will be too ill to do anything other than breath inside his spacesuit. Read what Astronaut Scott Kelly endured just on the ISS, it ended his career, he even wrote a book about it. Do some physics and stop listening to futurists, they deal in science fiction brainfarts not science.

[@ktm640lc4BGD]

I wonder when will they PlSS off The Buggalos....

[@yoransom]

I'd like to volunteer to be sent to Mars.

[@SRC267]

Forever?

[@hamzahkhan8952]

really. as cool as it sounds, it would be boring and could be harmful for your mental and physical health.

[@yoransom]

@hamzahkhan8952 ...and life isn't? Shoot me on a rocket to Mars. If it crashes it will still be the most exciting 6 months of any human who ever lived.

[@hamzahkhan8952]

@@yoransom I mean parts of the missions would be exiting (launch/landing) and you'd get nice views, but most of those 6 months would be pretty boring when you're stuck in a small station. Personally, I wouldn't mind a short trip to space (like those space tourism missions), but i wouldn't want stay in space long-term.

[@therealjamespickering]

​@@hamzahkhan8952You would be on your way to another planet, man! I'd even play Monopoly and listen to Mariah Carey or Celine Dion the whole way, just to be on a rocket to Mars. It's like telling a child, that sitting and waiting to open Christmas presents is as boring as waiting for the bus.

[@viktorzatovka439]

On the ground, their drones fly longer. The Martians don't shoot down our drones. Peace and love.

[@farkldusun]

🙏🙏👍

[@ovalwingnut]

Man oh man (sorry, person oh person) that never gets old. NASA RoCkS.

[@kapacish]

Watch at 2x speed 👍

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

So now that we know it works what is it there to do beyond go up and down etc.? I hope the Titan drone can fly there as well and gets us useful information - as in information we can use.

[@LordDustinDeWynd]

Who knew a helicopter would work in the thin Martian atmosphere? We do, NOW.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

@LordDustinDeWynd but that's not a use. There are lots of things people can do, but if they are not useful they are left to aspire to be trivia.

[@LordDustinDeWynd]

@@TheRadioAteMyTV If a helicopter won't fly, it cannot be used on Mars. But instead, they found helicopters will be useful. Anything else?

[@LordDustinDeWynd]

@@TheRadioAteMyTV Since airports will require a huge infrastructure, helicopters will be air-vehicle-of-choice for many years on Mars. Useful data.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

@LordDustinDeWynd "will be" is not real, it's future tense. Has not happened - fantasy.

[@MrLewooz]

science fiction becoming REAL....

[@jezuschrystus.onlycash]

Art👍 🇵🇱🤝🇺🇸

[@changeagent228]

Get up to 500m and do a full colour 360 panoramic.

[@fabrb26]

And i can't even get a paper plane to flight properly no matter their design.😅

[@user-jx3fk8in5z]

Fake Mars

[@mdzahangir7550]

My 400$ phone can take better videos than this 2.5 billion $ project's camera

[@sH-ed5yf]

Can your phone survive in mars enviroment and send the pictures back to earth?

[@mdzahangir7550]

@@sH-ed5yf i dunno...atleast my camera is better🤭

[@sH-ed5yf]

@@mdzahangir7550 then build a helicopter that works for 3 years on mars and has better cameras

[@mdzahangir7550]

@@sH-ed5yf if they fit my mobile camera on this helicopter, the videos are would be better 🤭

[@sH-ed5yf]

@@mdzahangir7550 and then you have a data package way to big for its purpose, you Drainage the Batterie for no reason and have problems to send it back to earth

[@superblondeDotOrg]

Send all Republicans to Mars.

[@TheStockwell]

. . . and the owners of Italian restaurants who are too cheap to put an adequate amount of cheese on my pizza! 😡

[@zxcaaq]

bro you spend billions on this low quality feed? Record locally at 60 fps and transmit the whole thing afterwards... 💀💀💀💀 this is what happens when your engineers start using Rust and std c++ ...

[@thecma3]

What do you think programming languages have to do with deep space mission downlink prioritization and imaging capabilities? We have the technology to record high-resolution video at Mars and send it back to Earth (see onboard footage from Perseverance EDL). Maybe these particular cameras aren't capable of that, or perhaps the scientists and engineers decided to only downlink a handful of frames to prioritize other science data, but I can assure you those trades have nothing to do with Rust or C++.

[@KatinaSandford]

That's right.✨