Since our last Rocket Roundup, the Ingenuity helicopter has made two more flights on Mars! For Ingenuity’s second flight on April 22, the craft flew to five meters in altitude — two more meters than the first flight — and flew two meters sideways. The third flight on April 25 also hit the five-meter altitude mark but this time did it a bit faster, accelerating to two meters per second which is the fastest it has ever flown, even in testing on Earth. Ingenuity also traveled 50 meters away from its takeoff point before returning. All of that took place in just 80 seconds.

The fourth historic flight is expected to take place on Wednesday, April 28. [Ed. note: It succeeded!]

More Information

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Logs Second Successful Flight (NASA JPL)

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Flies Faster, Farther on Third Flight (NASA JPL)