The first flight of the Ingenuity helicopter over the surface of Mars will take place no earlier than April 14. This was announced on April 10 by the press service of the American space agency NASA.
Initially, the flight was scheduled for April 8, later it was postponed to April 11.
“Based on data from the Ingenuity Mars helicopter, received late Friday night, NASA decided to postpone the first test flight until April 14,” – said NASA, noting that the device is in good working order.
Earlier, on February 19, it became known that together with the Perseverance rover, a small helicopter was delivered to Mars, with the help of which NASA plans to study the planet from a height of several meters.
It is believed that such drones will be able to penetrate remotely into Martian caves, where it is possible to find traces of life.
Perseverance arrived on Mars on February 18th. The NASA dispatcher noted that during the landing of the device, the parachute opened as planned. A few minutes earlier, before entering the atmosphere of Mars, NASA specialists received confirmation that the main engine had separated from the rover as scheduled.