NASA Marks One Year Since Mars Helicopter Made History By Completing First Flight

A team of American space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California recently celebrated one year since its Ingenuity helicopter became the first aircraft to achieve controlled, powered flight on another planet. Taking to Twitter, the American space agency informed that the Ingenuity's first flight on Mars took place on April 19, 2021.

On the occasion, the JPL team shared a video showing that special moment 12 months ago when news came through that the drone-like aircraft had successfully performed its maiden flight.

Watch the clip below: 

On April 19, 2021, our #MarsHelicopter made history by completing the first powered flight on another planet. The flight lasted 39.1 seconds. One year later, Ingenuity has logged over 46 minutes aloft and traveled 3.6 miles (5.8 km). See what's next: https://t.co/sOjNE1g7MR pic.twitter.com/19wyExAXHy

— NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2022

According to NASA, Ingenuity is a technology demonstration to test powered, controlled flight on another world for the first time. It hitched a ride to Mars on the Perseverance rover and once the rover reached a suitable “airfield” location, it released Ingenuity to the surface so it could perform a series of test flights over a 30-Martian-day experimental window. 

The space agency informed that the helicopter completed its technology demonstration after three successful flights. For the first flight, on April 19, 2021, Ingenuity took off, climbed about 10 feet above the ground, hovered in the air briefly, completed a turn, and then landed. “It was a major milestone: the very first powered, controlled flight in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars, and, in fact, the first such flight in any world beyond Earth,” NASA said. 

“The helicopter successfully even performed additional experimental flights of incrementally farther distance and greater altitude,” the space agency added. 

It s to mention that the NASA JPL team spent years designing, building and testing the 4-pound, 19-inch-high helicopter before strapping it to the underbelly of the Perseverance rover. Since its maiden flight, the aircraft has been using its onboard cameras to photograph terrain to help the space agency plan safe and efficient routes for Perseverance to take between locations of interest. 

Now, looking ahead, the JPL team is keen to push Ingenuity to its limits while keeping the machine safe.