Nasa’s Mars helicopter completes first powered flight on another planet


Arthur Scott-Geddes
  • English
  • Arabic

Nasa’s Ingenuity helicopter completed its first flight on Mars on Monday, data from the mission showed, in a landmark moment for space exploration.

Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where the helicopter was designed and built, endured a nervous wait as telemetry from the helicopter arrived on Earth after it travelled about 289 million kilometres from Mars.

The data showed that Ingenuity had lifted off from the surface of Mars as planned, completing a task many compared to the first powered flight on Earth in 1903.

An image taken by one of the helicopter’s onboard cameras showed it hovering above the Red Planet.

The Perseverance rover, which carried Ingenuity to Mars, was positioned near the flight zone in the Jezero Crater to capture more imagery of the test flight, relaying back a short video of the helicopter in flight.

The team of engineers and scientists behind the Ingenuity celebrated as the data came in.

Lead Engineer MiMi Aung said: "We can now say that humans have flown a rotorcraft on another planet.

"We've been talking so long about our Wright brothers moment on Mars, and here it is," she said.

An earlier flight attempt was delayed by a software glitch, but engineers were able to solve the problem from Earth and instructed the helicopter to take off early on Monday.

The flight plan involved the helicopter climbing to three metres above the surface and hovering for 30 seconds in the thin Martian atmosphere, before landing back on the surface. In all, Ingenuity logged a total of 39.1 seconds of flight.

The Ingenuity helicopter was designed to prove that flight on Mars is possible.

While Mars has much less gravity to overcome than Earth, its atmosphere is only 1 per cent of the volume of that of the Earth, presenting a special challenge for aerodynamic lift.

To compensate, engineers equipped Ingenuity with rotor blades that are larger and spin much faster than would be needed on Earth for an aircraft of its size.

The design was successfully tested in vacuum chambers built at the Jet Propulsion Lab to simulate Martian conditions.

Ingenuity will undertake several more flights of increasing complexity and length over the next weeks, between rest periods of four to five days as it recharges its batteries.

Nasa hopes Ingenuity will pave the way for efforts to explore the planets and moons of the solar system from the "air", including Mars and Saturn’s moon, Titan.

"We will take a moment to celebrate our success and then take a cue from Orville and Wilbur regarding what to do next," said Ms Aung. "History shows they got back to work – to learn as much as they could about their new aircraft – and so will we.”

AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street

The seven points are:

Shakhbout bin Sultan Street

Dhafeer Street

Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)

Salama bint Butti Street

Al Dhafra Street

Rabdan Street

Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)

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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi

Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

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Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu

Director: Hansal Mehta

Rating: 4 / 5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Fixtures

Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs

Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms

Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles

Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon

Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon

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Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics

Favourite sport: soccer

Favourite team: Bayern Munich

Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer

Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates 

 

The cost of Covid testing around the world

Egypt

Dh514 for citizens; Dh865 for tourists

Information can be found through VFS Global.

Jordan

Dh212

Centres include the Speciality Hospital, which now offers drive-through testing.

Cambodia

Dh478

Travel tests are managed by the Ministry of Health and National Institute of Public Health.

Zanzibar

AED 295

Zanzibar Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, located within the Lumumba Secondary School compound.

Abu Dhabi

Dh85

Abu Dhabi’s Seha has test centres throughout the UAE.

UK

From Dh400

Heathrow Airport now offers drive through and clinic-based testing, starting from Dh400 and up to Dh500 for the PCR test.

Rafael Nadal's record at the MWTC

2009 Finalist

2010 Champion

Jan 2011 Champion

Dec 2011 Semi-finalist

Dec 2012 Did not play

Dec 2013 Semi-finalist

2015 Semi-finalist

Jan 2016 Champion

Dec 2016 Champion

2017 Did not play

 

War and the virus
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