Ingenuity Helicopter Notches Its 10th Red Planet Flight

On Thursday, NASA revealed that the advanced Ingenuity helicopter notched and completed its 10th Red Planet flight on July 4.

NASA said that Ingenuity captured on July 24 the two shots for this stereo image during its most complex flight yet.

In a statement, NASA said: "After taking off from its seventh airfield, it climbed to a new record altitude of 40 feet (12 meters). The helicopter then made four heading changes and took 10 images with the rotorcraft’s color camera before landing at a new airfield."

"The 3D image was created by combining two of those images, offering the rover team a richer perspective as they plan the next steps in their science campaign, " the statement added.

The main purpose of the mission is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. NASA's Ingenuity will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, aid the people to explore the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), according to NASA.

It’s worth mentioning that the $85 million Ingenuity helicopter arrived on the red planet aboard the Perseverance rover on Feb. 18 when it landed in a region known as Jezero Crater.