NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

  • NASA's miniature robot helicopter Ingenuity performed a successful takeoff and landing on Mars. 
  • It was the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.
  • The first powered flight on Earth was achieved by the Wright brothers in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 

INGENUITY

  • Ingenuity is the first helicopter to fly on Mars.
  • It was carried by NASA’s rover called Perseverance that was launched in July 2020.
  • It is solar-powered, able to charge on its own.
  • The helicopter’s mission is experimental in nature and completely independent of the rover’s science mission.
  • It will help collect samples from the surface from locations where the rover cannot reach.

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