Ingenuity captured this photo with its RTE (Return To Earth) color camera on Flight 49 which occurred on Sol-752 (April 2, 2023). James Sorenson did some extra processing to this picture to set the framing as well as color balance it to better approximate what the scene would really look like as if someone were flying with Ingenuity at an altitude of 16 meters (52 feet) off the ground.
Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/James Sorenson
I just checked the image server and the helicopter has returned over 8,000 images, and there are hundreds more still on the helicopter
RTE: 419 NavCam: 7952 Total: 8371
Seeing all these photos never ceases to amaze me.
The aerodynamics are different enough on Mars with its thin atmosphere, it startles me to think about how much data is being collected with every flight that informs designs on future Martian aircraft.
I wonder how long until we have fixed wing drones flying continuously in Martian skies.
Any fixed wing drones would need a flat airfield to take off / land (unless they had VTOL systems) not sure if it would be easier to engineer a quadcopter than a VTOL fixed wing craft. But a fixed wing drone would be really cool and able to travel further.
Let’s not forget that Ingenuity’s longest flight was 708.91 meters (2325.83 ft). That’s a lot of exploring in one sol , so the next generation of Mars helicopter would be likely to go a lot further
Any fixed wing drones would need a flat airfield to take off / land
I think you’re still using Earth’s atmosphere (and gravity) for what you have in mind. For one, you only need and airfield to land if you ever intend to land. We already have fixed with aircraft that can fly continuously for 90 days at a time. Mars gravity is only about 1/3 of Earth’s which helps, but it also has a much lower density atmosphere which hurts. Second, you only need an airfield to take off, if you’re already on the ground.
Perhaps one far future approach is to build a fixed wing aircraft that would fly continuously, and could perhaps deploy its wings during descent into Martian atmosphere on arrival negating the need for it to ever touch the ground as part its mission.
NASA developed such a Mars plane many years ago, they even tested its wings being deployed in Earths upper atmosphere, but further development was halted.
I’m sure there is a good amount of science one could do with a fixed wing plane in continuous operation, but unless it deploys instruments onto the surface, data gathering would have its limits. Even so I would love to see it fly :)
