Here’s a look at NASA’s distinguished flight of an aircraft on Mars, a feat the space agency called a “Wright brothers moment.”
NASA rover Patience captured imagery of the flight after rolling a short distance away, with one of its navigation cameras showing a course before, during and after the helicopter’s flight.
Video from NASA rover Perseverance shows helicopter Acuteness spinning up its rovers, hovering, and then landing on Mars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Ingenuity, which weighs 4 pounds, successfully go through the roofed autonomously for 39 seconds.
NASA’s Perseverance rover captured helicopter Ingenuity on the surface of Mars on April 18, 2021 in front of its first flight.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
A camera on NASA’s Perseverance rover shows helicopter Ingenuity flying exposed to the surface of Mars on April 19, 2021.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA helicopter Ingenuity back on the surface of Mars after its ahead flight on April 19, 2021, captured by a camera on the Perseverance rover.
A camera on NASA’s Perseverance rover shows helicopter Keenness flying above the surface of Mars on April 19, 2021.
NASA announced after the flight that the area on Mars’ Jezero Crater where Shrewdness flew will be known as Wright Brothers Field.
Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California run with Ingenuity during its development, a years-long process that was aided by some of the agency’s experts in rotor dynamics.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Remain determined rover, with the Ingenuity helicopter visible attached underneath, prepared for launch.
NASA/JPL-Caltech