The Perseverance of Ingenuity

Man-Made “Ingenuity” Helicopter Slices Mars’ Atmosphere for the First Time

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Yesterday morning, on an expanse of red, barren soil, a small metallic creature with an invisible, intangible brain spun its blades for the very first time: NASA celebrated its first powered, controlled flight of an autonomous device on another planet: Mars.

The Ingenuity helicopter, a separate, modular component of the Perseverance Rover, passed its first test-flight with hovering colors, rising a valiant and elegant 9’8ft into the Martian air, hovered, and came back down this fine morning on earth. That’s right, folks: this fine morning on earth.

Image by NASA

“We can now say that human beings have flown a rotocraft on another planet.”

MiMi Aung, Ingenuity Project Manager at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.