NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Historic Flight Successful

The flight by Ingenuity was the first by a powered aircraft on another planet.

NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Historic Flight Successful

Photo Credit: NASA

Ingenuity sent back a still black-and-white image from its camera, showing its own shadow cast on surface

Highlights
  • Ingenuity will analyse its position with respect to Martian surface
  • A short clip was sent back by the Perseverance rover
  • Most spectacular images are supposed to come from the Perseverance rover
Advertisement

NASA successfully flew the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars on Monday, according to data and images sent back to Earth.

"Altimeter data confirms that Ingenuity has performed its first flight - the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet," announced an engineer in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the control room cheered. 

A short clip sent back by the Perseverance rover showed the four pound chopper grounded at first, hovering three meters above the Martian surface, then touching back down.

Ingenuity itself sent back a still black-and-white image from its downward pointing camera, showing its own shadow cast on the surface.

"We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet!" said lead engineer MiMi Aung to her team.

"We've been talking so long about our Wright brothers' moment on Mars, and here it is," she added.

The first powered flight on Earth was achieved by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 

A piece of fabric from that plane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honour of that feat.


Is OnePlus 9R old wine in a new bottle — or something more? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Later (starting at 23:00), we talk about the new OnePlus Watch. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: NASA, Ingenuity, Perseverance, Mars
Elon Musk's Photo From When He Was 17 Shows the Tech CEO's Quirky Side Started Young
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »