First Helicopter Flight on Mars a Success!
This is a time-lapse of Ingenuity's first flight on Mars earlier this morning. Click here for a hi-resolution video of the flight — very cool! NASA / JPL-Caltech Just in case you haven't heard, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter had its Wright Brothers moment on Mars earlier today. At 2:34 a.m. CDT (12:33 p.m. local time on Mars) Monday morning, April 19th, the nineteen-inch-tall mini-copter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. Ingenuity climbed to its prescribed altitude of 10 feet (3 meters) and hovered for 30 seconds before descending, for a total flight time of 39.1 seconds. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured this photo of its shadow as it hovered over the Martian surface on April 19, 2021, during its inaugural flight. It used its navigation camera, which autonomously tracks the ground during flight. The original image was in black-and-white; I added color. NASA / JPL-Caltech While it's just a baby step, th