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The Ingenuity helicopter is preparing for its historic flight on Mars today if everything goes according to plan.
The first powered, controlled flight on another planet will take place at 3.30am ET (5.30pm AEST) on April 19, according to NASA.
Unlike when the helicopter s fellow traveller, the Perseverance rover, landed on Mars on February 18, we won t be able to see images or know if it was successful right away.
The helicopter team will be in mission control at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, today to receive and analyse the first data from Ingenuity s flight attempt.
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Mars helicopter Ingenuity is set to make its first attempt at flight today.(NASA/Twitter)
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NASA s Ingenuity today hovered in the skies of Mars making the equipment the first human-made helicopter to take flight on another planet.
Amid cheers in the control room, engineers confirmed the diminutive helicopter had spun up its rotors, taken off, landed, and spun everything down, leaving the stage set for further tests. An image from the helicopter s onboard navigation camera showing its shadow on the surface of Mars was swiftly followed by another sequence from the Perseverance rover showing the helicopter hovering.
Ingenuity s shadow on Mars. Source: Screengrab from NASA/ESA live feed (click to enlarge)
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Update 04/19/21 7:30 a.m. EDT: NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has safely touched back down on the Martian surface after successfully conducting its very first flight. The rotorcraft is the first to take to the skies of another world.
Early Monday morning, a room full of the helicopter’s operators waited as the first telemetry data and images from the test flight arrived from the Red Planet. Just before 7 a.m. EDT, those data arrived.
A short clip delivered from NASA s Perseverance rover this morning shows the Ingenuity helicopter successfully hovering over the Martian surface. It is the first rotorcraft to (briefly) fly in the skies of another world.
Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed its historic first flight
The Ingenuity helicopter has successfully completed its historic flight on Mars and safely landed back on the surface, according to NASA.
The first powered, controlled flight on another planet took place at 3:30 a.m. ET.
Unlike when the helicopter’s fellow traveler, the Perseverance rover, landed on Mars on February 18, there was a bit of wait to know how the helicopter fared in its attempt.
The helicopter team was in mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, early Monday morning to receive and analyze the first data from Ingenuity’s flight attempt.