Set as Homepage - Add to Favorites

【Bawdy Tales of Edo: Octopus & Sea Shell】

Source：Evergreen Information Network Editor：Digital Culture Time：2025-06-26 15:31:40

NASA hoped its Ingenuity helicopter would fly at least once. It took flight 72 times.

The Bawdy Tales of Edo: Octopus & Sea Shellhistoric craft — the first to ever make a powered, controlled flight on another planet — flew distances as far as 2,315 feet across Mars' Jezero Crater, a basin that once teemed with water, likely creating a lake some 22 miles wide. It served as a reliable scout to the space agency's Perseverance rover, as these robots sleuthed the best places to look for potential evidence of past microbial life on the Red Planet.

The new NASA video below (one-minute long) shows how Ingenuity buzzed over Mars, crossing over rugged and hilly terrain before arriving at its final landing spot months ago. On flight 72, the experimental chopper crashed in a dried-up river valley.

You May Also Like
SEE ALSO: NASA scientist viewed first Voyager images. What he saw gave him chills.

"We never planned for such a long mission," Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s project manager, said at a media briefing. "We originally had a single logbook, hoping for one successful flight to be logged in that logbook. Eventually got to five [flights] and were extremely excited to proceed into our extended operations demonstration."

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

That smooth, sandy terrain was ultimately Ingenuity's demise. The helicopter navigated by using software to track the movement of objects, like rocks, below. But the sandy dunes were largely "featureless," NASA explained.

"The more featureless the terrain is, the harder it is for Ingenuity to successfully navigate across it," the space agency said in a statement. "The team believes that the relatively featureless terrain in this region was likely the root cause of the anomalous landing."

Related Stories
  • NASA spacecraft snaps awesome view of volcanoes erupting on distant world
  • Alien planets might teem with purple — yes, purple — life
  • The best telescopes for gazing at stars and solar eclipses in 2024
  • This nova is on the verge of exploding. You could see it any day now.
  • If a scary asteroid will actually strike Earth, here's how you'll know
"We never planned for such a long mission."

A hard landing broke multiple rotors, which doomed any future flights. To take to the air, Ingenuity spun its four-foot rotor blades at a blazing 2,400 revolutions every minute. This was necessary to generate the lift needed for flight: The Martian atmosphere is quite thin, with a density about one percent of Earth's, so the rapid rotors must spin fast enough to move enough molecules under its rotors.

NASA's Ingenuity flight was the beginning of the agency's aerial endeavors on other worlds. NASA is considering a Mars plane, and in four years will launch a "rotorcraft" — with eight spinning rotors — to Saturn's moon Titan, a world harboring tantalizing dunes and seas of methane.

Previous：DDR4 Memory at 4000 MT/s, Does It Make a Difference?

Next：Then and Now: 6 Generations of GeForce Graphics Compared

Related Articles
Related Recommendations
Categories
Latest Articles
Popular Articles
Hot Recommendations
Featured Column

Quick Links

Amazon just cleared its biggest hurdle for payments in IndiaNintendo is discontinuing the NES Classic'Fantastic Beasts' casts Young DumbledoreA scorpion stung a man on a United Airlines flight, because United AirlinesMotorcyclist takes global adventure after exGuy builds a thrill ride that spins faster if you aren't scared enoughNew luxury internet cafes in China are ensuring gamers won't ever want to leaveGuy builds a thrill ride that spins faster if you aren't scared enoughA scorpion stung a man on a United Airlines flight, because United AirlinesGoogle seems to have shut down Burger King's trolling adsJeans that expose your butt crack are fashionable now, I guessGuy builds a thrill ride that spins faster if you aren't scared enoughWe finally have a tracklist and release date for Harry Styles' debut album'Justice League' poster reveals a clunky new tagline'World of Warcraft' players finally got through a twoYou can get a sneak preview of Kendrick Lamar's new album — via LeBron JamesThis 'Game of Thrones' theory generator will keep you busy until JulyHow to be a persuasive leader (hint: it's about the 'moment before')Apple is secretly working to revolutionize how we treat diabetesI just (virtually) adopted a piece of Earth, and so can you Pinterest bans all weight “Biographies in Bronze” by Fredda Brilliant 'Heart of Stone' review: Netflix does big The Morning News Roundup for May 8, 2014 Exploring Alexander Pope’s Grottoes The Norwegian The Morning News Roundup for May 6, 2014 An Austrian Town’s Beautiful New Bus Stops The Other Yellow Pages Cops are playing music during filmed encounters to game YouTube's copyright striking David Lynch on Alan Splet Art in Mexico City Archibald MacLeish, Librarian of Congress What happens to the mind and body when you don't have sex? Remembering Thomas Glynn What—and Why—Is Merchant’s Gargling Oil? Black TikTok creators are 'striking' to protest uncredited viral dance trends 26 best Dionne Warwick tweets of 2021 (so far) Acrobats and Mountebanks The Rebirth of the Colombian Soccer Team

1.8416s , 10133.6328125 kb

Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Bawdy Tales of Edo: Octopus & Sea Shell】,Evergreen Information Network  

Sitemap

Top

Quick Links