A little Ingenuity, a big accomplishment

April 19, 2021April 19, 2021 James Guilford First Flight, Ingenuity, JPL, Mars, Mars 2020, Mars Rover, NASA, Perseverance

Shown in this screen grab from a video, the small “Ingenuity” rotorcraft made history, hovering above Jezero Crater, demonstrating that powered, controlled flight on another planet is possible. The video including this image was captured by the Perseverance rover parked nearby. Image Credit: NASA/JPL

April 19, 2021 — NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The Ingenuity team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving data from the helicopter via NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover at 6:46 a.m. EDT (3:46 a.m. PDT).

A tight crop from a video frame showing the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its historic first flight on Mars. *The video including this image was captured by the Perseverance rover parked nearby.* Image Credit: NASA/JPL

The solar-powered helicopter first became airborne at 3:34 a.m. EDT (12:34 a.m. PDT) – 12:33 Local Mean Solar Time (Mars time) – a time the Ingenuity team determined would have optimal energy and flight conditions. Altimeter data indicate Ingenuity climbed to its prescribed maximum altitude of 10 feet (3 meters) and maintained a stable hover for 30 seconds. It then descended, touching back down on the surface of Mars after logging a total of 39.1 seconds of flight.

For more on the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter technology demonstration, click here!

Updated: Mars helicopter flight coming soon…

April 6, 2021April 19, 2021 James Guilford Ingenuity, Mars, Perseverance

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is seen in a close-up taken by Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard the Perseverance rover. This image was taken on April 5, 2021, the 45th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
***Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU***

UPDATE APRIL 17: NASA is targeting no earlier than Monday, April 19, for the first flight of its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at approximately 3:30 a.m. EDT (12:30 a.m. PDT).

Data from the first flight will return to Earth a few hours following the autonomous flight. A livestream will begin at 6:15 a.m. EDT (3:15 a.m. PDT), as the helicopter team prepares to receive the data downlink in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Watch on NASA Television, the agency app, website, and social media platforms, including YouTube and Facebook.

UPDATE: Based on data from the Ingenuity Mars helicopter that arrived late Friday night, NASA has chosen to reschedule the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s first experimental flight to no earlier than April 14. CLICK HERE for the full story.

A livestream confirming Ingenuity’s first flight is targeted to begin around 3:30 a.m. EDT Monday, April 12, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, and will livestream on multiple agency social media platforms, including the JPL YouTube and Facebook channels. When it happens it will be the first flight of an aircraft operated on another planet.

Ride the rover to the surface of Mars

February 22, 2021 James Guilford 2021, JPL, Mars, Mars Rover, NASA, Perseverance, video

February 22, 2021 — New video from NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover chronicles major milestones during the final minutes of its entry, descent, and landing (EDL) on the Red Planet on Feb. 18 as the spacecraft plummeted, parachuted, and rocketed toward the surface of Mars. A microphone on the rover also has provided the first audio recording of sounds from Mars.

From the moment of parachute inflation, the camera system covers the entirety of the descent process, showing some of the rover’s intense ride to Mars’ Jezero Crater. The footage from high-definition cameras aboard the spacecraft starts 7 miles (11 kilometers) above the surface, showing the supersonic deployment of the most massive parachute ever sent to another world, and ends with the rover’s touchdown in the crater.