The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) made history after the successful flight of its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter  on another planet.

According to NASA, its Ingenuity team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California confirmed that the flight was a success after receiving data from the helicopter via NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.

Altimeter data indicate Ingenuity climbed to its prescribed maximum altitude of 10 feet (3 meters) and maintained a stable hover for 30 seconds.

JPL developed the guidance, navigation, and control systems running algorithms to pilot Ingenuity.

NASA associate administrator for Science, Thomas Zurbuchen announced that the team named the airfield, where the Ingenuity Helicopter traversed, as Wright Brothers Field as an homage to the two innovative bicycle makers.

“Now, 117 years after the Wright brothers succeeded in making the first flight on our planet, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has succeeded in performing this amazing feat on another world,” he said. AAC

A Japanese astronaut snapped a photo of the Philippine islands from space.

Soichi Noguchi, an astronaut of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) took the photo on Wednesday (April 7) while aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and posted it on his Twitter account.

Soichi Noguchi of JAXA is an Expedition 64 Flight Engineer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Beautiful #Philippines islands! pic.twitter.com/RXuekityQh

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡一（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) April 6, 2021

According to NASA, some of the investigations of Expedition 64 crew members include growing radishes to better understand plant growth and nutrition in microgravity; conducting cancer therapy research; studying how mining with microbes can be used on asteroids; and continuing research into the effects of microgravity on the heart. AAC

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) STAMINA4Space Program announced on Monday (December 14) that the 4th Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite or BIRDS-4 project is now on the website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

According to NASA, the BIRDS-4 satellites are deployed in the fourth round of a project launched by researchers or students from Japan, the Philippines, and Paraguay.

The Philippines’ Maya-2, a cube satellite (CubeSat) that was developed by Filipino students in Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan, is part of the BIRDS-4 project.

The satellite, one of the three 1U CubeSats, will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021, along with the other two that were developed by Japan and Paraguay.

Its predecessor Maya-1, successfully completed its mission and flew back to Earth’s atmosphere on November 23, after staying in orbit for about 2 years and 4 months.

Maya-2 is the product of the Philippines’ first inter-university satellite project and it will incorporate more advanced technology demonstration missions than Maya-1.

On its website, NASA said that the mission of the BIRDS-4 satellites is to test commercial off-the-shelf components, as well as new technologies such as Perovskite solar cell and antenna using the satellite structure to prove their worthiness in space.

“BIRDS-4 deploys during the JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer-16 (J-SSOD-16) micro-satellite deployment mission, is handled by the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS), and launches to the International Space Station aboard the NG-15 Cygnus Cargo Vehicle,” NASA added. –MNP / Raymund David