NASA’s Mars helicopter makes history with successful flight on Red Planet
LOS ANGELES — NASA's miniature robot helicopter Ingenuity performed a successful takeoff and landing on Mars early on Monday, achieving the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft over the surface of another planet, the US space agency said.
The solar-powered whirligig's debut on the Red Planet marked a 21st-century Wright Brothers moment for NASA, which said success could pave the way for new modes of exploration on Mars and other destinations in the solar system, such as Venus and Saturn's moon Titan.
Mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles burst into applause and cheers as engineering data beamed back from Mars confirmed that the 4-pound (1.8-kg) twin-rotor helicopter had performed its maiden 40-second flight as planned about three hours earlier.
???????? LIVE: Today’s the day! Join the Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter team now in mission control as they receive data in real time and find out if the first flight on another planet was successful: https://t.co/0r5Q22ryUC
— NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2021
"Ingenuity has performed its first flight — the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet!"
— NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2021
The data reveals: Our #MarsHelicopter has had a successful first flight: ???? pic.twitter.com/h5a6aGGgHG
Incredible. Ingenuity’s shadow during flight. Biggest congrats to #MarsHelicopter team! pic.twitter.com/YCzpJ1b2Kg
— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) April 19, 2021
The little rotorcraft that could.????????
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) April 19, 2021
Ingenuity documented its historic ascent today. Here's the #MarsHelicopter's POV during first flight. That's its shadow on the ground below. pic.twitter.com/wXgLyTDbjm
You wouldn’t believe what I just saw.
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) April 19, 2021
More images and video to come...#MarsHelicopterhttps://t.co/PLapgbHeZU pic.twitter.com/mbiOGx4tJZ
The robot rotorcraft was programmed to ascend 10 feet (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. JPL officials said data returned from Mars showed that this had in fact occurred.
During NASA's own coverage of the event livestreamed from JPL headquarters, NASA also displayed the first images from the flight.
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 just below it.
A snippet of color video footage captured by a separate camera mounted on the NASA's Mars rover Perseverance, parked about 200 feet away, showed the helicopter in flight against the orange-colored landscape surrounding it.
"We can now say that human beings have flown an aircraft on another planet," said MiMi Aung, Ingenuity project manager at JPL. — Reuters