The Fifth Flight

After its fifth flight, NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity lands at a new airfield.

On Friday, May 7, Ingenuity took off from the floor of Jezero Crater for its fifth Martian flight. The 1.8 kg chopper ascended to a height of 5 metres and then cruised south for 129 metres, taking the same route as flight number four last week.

On February 18, Ingenuity landed with NASA's Perseverance rover within the 45-kilometre Jezero. On April 3, the solar-powered rotorcraft launched from the rover's belly, kicking off a flight campaign to show that aerial discovery is feasible on Mars.

Anderson Cooper of CBS News reported the Perseverance rover's nerve-wracking arrival on Mars, the precise method of deploying the tiny helicopter Ingenuity, and the incredible photographs the two have already transmitted back to Earth.

Perseverance posed for a selfie of Ingenuity, the small helicopter it had just left off, last month in this barren Martian crater, 170 million miles from Earth. Two weeks later, the rover's cameras captured Ingenuity's historic first flight, which lasted 30 seconds and hovered ten feet above the ground. It might not seem to be much, but it was a cause for celebration for those who had worked so hard to make it happen.

Read Anderson Cooper's full report by clicking the link below: