Apr 20, 2021
Nasa successfully flies small helicopter on Mars
The drone, called Ingenuity, was airborne for less than a minute, but Nasa is celebrating what represents the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft on another world. The space agency is promising more adventurous flights in the day's ahead. Ingenuity will be commanded to fly higher and further as engineers seek to test the limits of the technology. "We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet," said a delighted MiMi Aung, project manager for Ingenuity at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. NASA/JPL-CALTECH. Ingenuity even carries a small swatch of fabric from one of the wings of Flyer 1, the aircraft that made that historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, more than 117 years ago. Perseverance then drove to an "Airstrip" about 20m away from its landing site in Mars' Jezero Crater, lowering Ingenuity to the ground and taking a selfie of the two of them.
Related companies
Make a complaint about Mars by viewing their customer service contacts.
