This April, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has successfully finished its third flight to Mars. The team behind this technology considered this as a huge improvement that they have achieved.

The demo project needs first to meet all three objectives to rule it out as successful. 

While we are surprised by the spacecraft's most recent flight, the Ingenuity team seems to be wanting more discoveries on the red planet. At the time, they wanted to conduct a fourth test flight to further conduct a thorough study on the planet's craters and rocks.

Ingenuity Helicopter Fourth Flight Launch Date

On Wednesday, Apr. 28, NASA said that the next flight will happen this week. The fourth flight is set for Thursday, Apr. 29 at 10:12 AM EST.

It's only a matter of days after the third flight has occurred, and again, we will be seeing another experiment on the surface of Earth's neighboring planet.

Six years ago, the team accomplished their first objective after carrying out a flight demo of the helicopter. The spacecraft managed to glide while inside a JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Chamber.

Read Also: NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter: Successful Third Flight Hints at 'Rotorcraft'

Meanwhile, the second objective was accomplished this April, when the Ingenuity has triumphantly landed on the red planet. It even obtained its third and last objective of flying at nearly 4.5 MPH in 164 feet while on a 16-feet altitude.

Regardless of the accomplishments of the Ingenuity helicopter, the team has yet to conduct more experiments with the given numbers.

"When Ingenuity's landing legs touched down after that third flight, we knew we had accumulated more than enough data to help engineers design future generations of Mars helicopters. Now we plan to extend our range, speed, and duration to gain further performance insight," Ingenuity chief engineer J. "Bob" Balaram said.

What Will the Fourth Flight of the Ingenuity Helicopter Cover?

According to the latest report by Engadget's Mariella Moon, the fourth flight of the Ingenuity helicopter will involve a lot of changes. Compared to the third flight, the machine will fly for an approximate height of 276 feet from its starting point while maintaining a 16-feet altitude.

Moreover, the best part of the upcoming test flight will be an increased airspeed to 8 MPH from the previous 4.5 MPH. Furthermore, the airborne time will be lengthened to 117 seconds from 80 seconds.

For the data gathering, NASA JPL assumes that by 1:21 PM EST on Apr. 29, the first data set will be collected already from the test flight. This will guarantee that we would no longer have to wait for long periods to determine the success of the fourth flight.

If there is a fourth test, we could also expect another one-the fifth and the final flight. At the moment, there is no official date for that experiment.

Most likely, we could hear more about the last flight after the Ingenuity team has already accumulated enough data for the investigation.

After completing the five flights, NASA could transfer to its main mission on the Mars Perseverance rover. For this part, the team will be seeking potential forms of ancient life on the planet.

Related Article: NASA Releases First Color Photo of Mars Taken by Ingenuity, Shows Red Colors of the Planet 

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Written by Joseph Henry