![]() Data from the Mars rover and helicopter is relayed between the two planets using orbiting satellites and NASA's Deep Space Network. A future astrobiology mission by NASA and the European Space Agency ( ESA) will send spacecraft to collect the sealed samples for return to Earth for analysis.īecause light and radio signals take about 3 minutes to travel from Earth to Mars-or back-“flight by stick” is not possible. The rover will be the first mission to collect Martian rocks and regoliths (broken rocks and dust). Perseverance is searching for signs of past microbial life on the red planet, studying geology and climate. “That this project has achieved such a historic first is testimony to the innovation and doggedness of our team here at JPL, as well as at NASA’s Langley and Ames Research Centers, and our industry partners.” “The Mars Helicopter project has gone from ‘blue sky’ feasibility study to workable engineering concept to achieving the first flight on another world in a little over six years,” said Michael Watkins, director of JPL. ![]() They built on the experience of Mars landings since Viking 1 in 1975. JPL, which is administered by the California Institute of Technology ( Caltech) for NASA, also had to make sure that Ingenuity and Perseverance could survive the 293 million-mile (471 million-km) trip to Mars and land gently. It must also withstand nighttime temperatures as low as -130☏ (-90☌). The helicopter contains unique components, as well as off-the-shelf-commercial parts – many from the smartphone industry – that were tested in deep space for the first time with this mission, said JPL. (1.8 kg, on Earth), with two 4-foot-wide (1.2m) rotor blades. Mars has a thinner atmosphere, lower gravity, and colder average temperatures than Earth.īecause Mars' atmosphere is only 1% of the density of Earth's, the 19.3-in.-tall (49 cm) Ingenuity weighs only 4 lb. We don’t know exactly where Ingenuity will lead us, but today’s results indicate the sky – at least on Mars – may not be the limit.” Developing a drone for Marsīuilding an aerial drone for Mars was not as simple as stowing a conventional system in Perseverance's payload. Mars Pathfinder and its Sojourner rover did the same for three generations of Mars rovers. “The X-15 was a pathfinder for the space shuttle. “Ingenuity is the latest in a long and storied tradition of NASA projects achieving a space exploration goal once thought impossible,” said Steve Jurczyk, acting NASA administrator. “With Ingenuity, we're trying to do the same for Mars.” “The Wright Brothers showed that powered flight in Earth's atmosphere was possible, using an experimental aircraft,” stated Håvard Grip, Ingenuity's chief pilot at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( NASA JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. Data was received via the Perseverance Mars rover at 6:46 a.m. After years of development and a journey of millions of miles, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flew for the first time today, marking the first controlled, powered flight on another planet.
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