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View Full Version : 172,000,069 miles away



jimnyc
04-10-2021, 04:18 PM
And NASA is going to fly a drone on Mars from 172+ million miles away!

What an amazing achievement!

It's a truly advanced mini helicopter. Give ya an idea:

$15 million dollars invested in development.

An additional $23 million dollars added into the project in 2018 to speed things up so that it could go on the mission to Mars.

Over $80 million in total spent on building the helicopter & then an additional $5 million to be able to operate the helicopter. That's a lot of money spent on a remote drone! But it's built to be one if the best ever made. And to be able to fly within a rocket launch and to be able to drop from underneath a Mars rover to go solo and do it's own thing.

Doesn't look like a big deal, but it is, as yesterday it was captured on video from the rover - showing preparation for flight by spinning up the blades and performing various tests. Tomorrow night will be the flight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTx9M5L4V0Y

SassyLady
04-14-2021, 01:53 AM
Really cool but begs the question of why are we doing this when we still have homeless and children who go hungry.