[U: Video!] Third Chopper Flight On Mars -- Results Shortly, From NASA...

The third flight has already been completed this morning, as we all await a report from NASA -- as the data is being beamed down to Earth, right now in real time, from Perseverance on Mars.

Here's the latest, from the Mars blog authored by NASA:

. . .We're targeting our third flight for this Sunday, April 25, with initial datasets and imagery arriving in our control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory around 7:16 a.m. PDT (10:16 a.m. EDT).

As many of you know, we carry a piece of the original Wright Flyer aboard our helicopter. Even though we are conducting our flight tests in a tenuous atmosphere over 180 million miles (290 million kilometers) from Earth, we model our methodical approach to experimental flight on the Wright brothers' approach. Our plan from Day One has been to prepare like crazy, fly, analyze the data (like crazy), and then plan for an even bolder test in the next flight. . . .

We're being cautious with each new foray in the skies of Mars as we continue to build confidence in the capabilities of this new exploration platform. For the third flight, we're targeting the same altitude, but we are going to open things up a bit too, increasing our max airspeed from 0.5 meters per second to 2 meters per second (about 4.5 mph) as we head 50 meters (164 feet) north and return to land at Wright Brothers Field. We're planning for a total flight time of about 80 seconds and a total distance of 100 meters (330 feet). . . .

Onward -- ever onward, out into the science frontiers -- the future draws near, with a grin. Updated -- with video of a perfect flight, on Monday morning:



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