NASA's tiny Mars Helicopter completes Flight 31 on the Red Planet

NASA's tiny Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, has successfully completed its Flight 31 on the Red Planet. During this flight, which took place on Tuesday, September 6, the solar-powered helicopter flew 318 ft (97 meters) west towards the Jezero river delta, in 55.6 seconds.

We had liftoff!#MarsHelicopter completed a successful Flight 31 on September 6. Ingenuity flew 318 ft (97 m) west towards the Jezero river delta, in 55.6 seconds.⬆️ Max Altitude: 33 ft (10 m) ➡️ Distance: 319 ft (97.2 m)More: https://t.co/pJGZuwtbPy pic.twitter.com/OInuN4KqFj

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) September 7, 2022

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter landed on Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover. Ingenuity's first flight took place on April 19, 2021, when it climbed to about 10 feet (3 meters) above the ground, becoming the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The helicopter was designed to fly for up to 90 seconds, to distances of almost 980 feet (300 meters) at a time and about 10 to 15 feet from the ground.

The mission teams have also planned a flight-software upgrade for this month, which will enable new navigation capabilities so that the tiny solar-powered rotorcraft can fly better across the challenging river delta terrain in the months ahead.