Nasa's Mars helicopter takes third successful flight

With two tests already successfully completed, Nasa’s pioneering helicopter Ingenuity has now made its longest flight on the Red Planet yet, covering 50m and reaching a top speed of 2 metres per second.

According to the Nasa, the distance covered by the rotorcraft is beyond what it had accomplished during its testing phases on Earth at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

The successful flight took place with Ingenuity rising 5m – the same altitude as its previous demo, and the 1.8kg craft then came back to its take-off spot in a total flight time of 80 seconds.