Ingenuity Helicopter Develops Record Speed During 3d Flight on Mars - NASA

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Ingenuity helicopter conducted its third test flight on Mars, outperforming earlier demonstrated speed and distances, NASA said on Sunday.

Ingenuity's second flight took place this past Thursday and the first flight on April 19.

"NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter continues to set records, flying faster and farther on Sunday, April 25, 2021 than in any tests it went through on Earth," the US space agency said.

The helicopter took off at 12:33 p.m. Mars time (05:31 GMT), rising 5 meters (16 feet), the same altitude as during the second flight. It then traveled 50 meters (164 feet) at a maximum speed of 2 meters per second (6.6 feet per second).

NASA shared two new images from the Red Planet — a black-and-white photo taken by Ingenuity and one in color shot by the Perseverance rover.