CBS News reports on Sunday, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter based on Mars flew 14.5 miles per hours at an altitude of 52.5 feet, both of which are records that broke the previous highs of 13.4 miles per hour and 46 feet of altitude, respectively. Ingenuity was brought “to Mars by NASA’s Perseverance rover,” and in the past two years, the helicopter “has performed a series of tests and is currently conducting an operations demonstration phase that NASA says ‘looks to explore how future rovers and aerial explorers can work together.’”
Full Story (CBS News)
Tag: Altitude
Cargo Dragon Completes First “Boost Kit” Maneuver to Help Maintain Space Station’s Altitude
Aviation Week reports, “NASA’s 33rd SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply mission to the ISS has completed its first “boost kit” propulsion maneuver to help maintain the orbital laboratory’s altitude. The maneuver, conducted on Sept. 3, lasted 5 min. and 3 sec., raising the low point of the nearly 1 million-lb. ISS’s orbit by about 1 mi., a NASA mission update said. The maneuver positioned the orbital lab in a 260- by 256.3-mi.-high orbit as it circles the Earth at a 51.6-deg. inclination to the equator.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)