When the flight took off on 8 April, the helicopter flew faster than ever. It broke both distance and speed records. The helicopter flew 704 meters high and at a speed of 5.5 meters per second. Ingenuity’s black-and-white navigation camera also captured some breathtaking photos during the flight. NASA engineers have stitched them together into one video, which shows a view from around Mars.
Ingenuity has made a few more flights since its 25th flight. NASA has Said That it is currently preparing for its 29th flight.
Ingenuity team lead Teddy Tzanetos said the helicopter’s navigation cameras gave him “a captivating sense” of what it would feel like gliding over the surface of Mars during the record-breaking flight.
In the video, the flying helicopter turns southwest after reaching an altitude of 10 metres, and achieves top speed in less than three seconds.
According to NASA, Ingenuity’s flights are autonomous. Its operators at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) plan the flights and send commands to the rover, which relays those commands to the helicopter.