NASA's Mars helicopter takes flight, 1st for another planet
The shadow of NASA’s helicopter Ingenuity is seen during its first flight on Mars.
NASA’s miniature robot helicopter Ingenuity performed a successful takeoff and landing on Mars on Monday, achieving the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft over the surface of another planet.
The triumph was hailed as a Wright Brothers moment. The solar-powered whirligig, in fact, carried a bit of wing fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer, which made similar history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
NASA said success could pave the way for new modes of exploration on Mars and other destinations in the solar system.
Mission managers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles burst into applause and cheers as engineering data beamed back from Mars confirmed that the 1.8-kilogram twin-rotor helicopter had performed its maiden 40-second flight as planned about three hours earlier.
The robot rotorcraft was programmed to ascend 3 meters straight up, then hover and rotate in place over the Martian surface for half a minute before settling back down on its four legs.
To accomplish all that, the helicopter’s twin, counter-rotating rotor blades needed to spin at 2,500 revolutions per minute — five times faster than on Earth.
A black-and-white photo taken by a downward-pointing onboard camera while the helicopter was aloft showed the distinct shadow cast by Ingenuity in the Martian sunlight onto the ground.
