Surrounded by NASA stickers and posters, consuming one-day-only Mars-style Krispy Kreme doughnuts, students and faculty at Tuscaloosa County High School celebrated a connection to the Mars rover landing, 293 million miles away, tucked right up under Perseverance's belly.
TCHS student Vaneeza Rupani suggested the name Ingenuity for a tiny helicopter hitchhiking along with Perseverance on the journey, which launched July 30, 2020, with confirmation of touchdown on Mars at 2:55 p.m. Central time on Thursday, Feb. 18.
Rupani's suggestion was chosen from essays submitted by 28,000 students who entered a NASA contest to name the 2,263-pound robotic geologist and astrobiologist, as well as its little friend, who will test the first man-powered flight on another planet.