Ingenuity helicopter makes historic flight on Mars

by | Apr 20, 2021 | exploration, History, NASA, Science, Seradata News, Technology

Ingenuity – part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission – made the first powered, controlled flight on another planet at 0730 GMT on 19 April. The 2 kg solar-powered drone helicopter, which had been deployed on the Martian surface by the Mars rover Perseverence, managed to ascend to around three metres above the Martian surface, then hover for 30 seconds and rotate before landing.

Ingenuity drone helicopter images own shadow on Martian surface during its first flight. Courtesy: NASA-JPL/Caltech

Images and a video of the Ingenuity in flight taken by the Perseverance rover showing the helicopter hovering were received by NASA around four hours after the flight. The helicopter is equipped with counter-rotating blades that spin at about 2,400 rpm to deal with the planet’s thin atmosphere, which has less than one per cent of the density of the Earth’s and a third of the gravitational pull.  The craft has since made two more test flights.

Ingenuity is equipped with computers, navigation sensors and two cameras (one colour and one black-and-white). It also carries a postage-stamp-size piece of the Wright Flyer in which Orville and Wilbur Wright first achieved controlled, human-carrying powered flight in 1903.

It is hoped that the small craft will be able to explore caves that are littered with obstacles on the ground, making access difficult for Mars rovers in the past. The NASA team will continue to receive and study data in the coming days and then formulate a plan for the second flight.

A still from a camera on the Perseverance rover catching Ingenuity’s first flight. Courtesy of NASA JPL via Twitter.

 

Matthew Wilson and David Todd contributed to this article. 

About Seradata

Seradata produce the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Falcon 9 puts Dragon CRS-28 resupply freighter into orbit on way to ISS

The SpaceX operated Dragon CRS-28 cargo ship on behalf of NASA was launched by a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket Read more

China’s crewed Shenzhou 15 undocks from Chinese Space Station and lands as Tianzhou 5 cargo craft returns to CSS

Shenzhou 15, with its crew of three (Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu) aboard, undocked from the forward port Read more

Express AM-5 comsat has similar thermal control problem to its sister Express AM-6 (Corrected)

Russianspaceweb.com reports that at 0130 GMT on 3 June 2023, the Russian communications satellite, Express AM-5 (Ekspress-AM 5),  suffered from Read more

Falcon 9 launches Starlink Group 6-4 from Cape Canaveral

SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA at 1220 GMT on 04 Read more

Viasat completes US$6.3 billion Inmarsat acquisition in a major satcom merger

Global Fixed Service Satellite (FSS) operator Viasat Inc has closed its long awaited acquisition of Inmarsat, a British satellite telecommunications Read more

Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg with 52 Starlink Group 2-10 satellites aboard

A Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 0602 GMT on 31 Read more

North Korean Chollima-1 maiden launch ends in second stage failure – sets off neighbours’ alarms

North Korea attempted to orbit a military reconnaissance satellite Malligyeong-1 using its new Chollima-1 rocket from a pad at the Read more

Fleet Space raises US$33 million for satellite enabled mineral exploration

Australian newspace company Fleet Space Technologies has secured AUS $50 million (US $33 million) in a Series C fundraising round Read more

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacevideochina25virgin galacticfalcon 9ULARoscosmosFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 5DGAevaaviation weekspacewalkaressoyuzIGTBeidouawardsInternational Space StationspaceBlue OriginSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonStarlinkCargo Return VehicleRocket LabresearchboeingmarsblogAirbus DSOneWeborionISROspaceshiptwoimpacthyperboladelayjaxamarsdemocratgoogle lunar prizerocketlunarhypertextobamaEutelsatlaunchVegatourismconstellationbarack obamafiguresSESnorthspaceflightthales alenia spacenode 2fundedRaymond LygoIntelsat2009romeAtlas VExpress MD-2dassault aviationss2Elon MuskLockheed MartinaviationLucy2008wk2sstlukradiotestmissilesuborbitaldocking portexplorationVirgin OrbitinternetAriane 5 ECAChina Manned Space EngineeringSLSsts-122missile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Ariane 5Express AMU 1spaceportbuildspace stationaltairNorthrop GrummanElectronshuttleProton Minternational astronautical congressscaled compositesIntelsat 23CosmosLauncherOneEuropean Space Agencyhanleybudgetrulesnew yorksoyuz 2-1aLong March 4CLong March 2D/2Ariane 6shenzhouatvspace shuttleVietnamcongressMojaveboldenInmarsatOrbital ATKnew shepardLong March 2CGuiana Space CenteriaccnesksclawsSpace Systems/LoralUK Space AgencyLong March 4BprotonUS Air ForceILSApollodarpaTalulah RileydragonastronautusabasepicturelanderAstriumSkyloneuSSLVega Clunar landerfiveeventfalconSea LaunchWednesdayinterview50thSNCAprilKuaizhou 1ASpace InsuranceTelesat7linkatlantisLong MarchcustomersuccessorFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5