The first recording of the sound of a helicopter flight in tact

Creativity makes noise. On Friday, May 7, NASA announced the blades for this tiny helicopter, which made its fifth flight in the thin air of Mars. Pictures were taken by the perseverance chariot. The US Space Agency has posted new photos on its Twitter account taken by the six-wheeled robot from the Ingenuity flight on April 30th.

New Sounds from Mars: Our Embed a Tweet Rover caught the chimes coming from our creativity # helicopter! This is the first time that a spacecraft on another planet has recorded the sounds of a separate spacecraft.

Increase the volume: https://t.co/o7zG6mQJzx pic.twitter.com/s8Hm3dhcgg

NASA (@ NASA) May 7, 2021

The roughly three-minute video begins with the wind blowing over Jezero Crater, as you land the perseverance on February 18th on a mission to search for traces of ancient life. Then the dexterity kicks in, and we hear its feathers spin at nearly 2,400 rpm for a round trip of a total of 260 meters. NASA engineers weren’t sure if the sound could be recorded, as the tenacity was about 80 meters from the take-off and landing site. Mars’ atmosphere, made up of 96% carbon dioxide, is only equivalent to 1% by density of Earth’s atmosphere, which makes the noise even more muted.

“It’s a very good surprise.”David Memon is Professor of Space Systems and Planetary Sciences at the Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Isae-Supaero) in Toulouse. “We did tests and simulations that made us believe that the microphone could hardly hear the helicopter sound, because the Martian atmosphere limits the propagation of the sound.”, It is to explain. Flight creativity A goldmine to understand the Martian atmosphereDavid Maimon emphasized.

This flight marks the beginning of a new role for creativity: after proving that it is possible to fly on Mars, it will now help to persevere in its main mission, to search for ancient life on the Red Planet, by going, for example, to explore places of scientific interest that cannot be reached by driving or finding the way. The most secure.