Charting the Red Planet: How Open Science Fuels Mars Exploration
Combining images from orbit with images from the surface, a JPL-developed tool allows researchers to zoom in to see individual boulders and zoom out to…
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter News
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, developed by NASA, represents a pioneering technology demonstration of powered, controlled flight on another planet. Launched with the Perseverance rover under the Mars 2020 mission, Ingenuity successfully made its first flight on April 19, 2021, marking a historic achievement in extraterrestrial aviation. This small, autonomous rotorcraft, weighing just under 4 pounds on Earth and equipped with solar panels, batteries, and other custom components, is designed to navigate the thin Martian atmosphere, which poses unique challenges due to its low density. Ingenuity’s primary goals are to test the feasibility of flight in Mars’ atmosphere and to gather data that could shape future missions involving aerial exploration. Its successful operations have opened new possibilities for more extensive, aerial exploration of Mars and potentially other celestial bodies.
Ingenuity’s Final Transmission: NASA’s Mars Helicopter Team Says Goodbye … for Now
The final downlink shift by the Ingenuity team was a time to reflect on a highly successful mission — and to prepare the first aircraft…
NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Spots Ingenuity Helicopter at Its Final Resting Place
Ingenuity’s groundbreaking mission concludes after 72 flights, while Perseverance’s exploration of Mars enters an exciting phase, focusing on geological discoveries that could shed light on…
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Concludes Mission After 3 Epic Years
NASA has proven powered, controlled flight is possible on other worlds, just as the Wright brothers proved it was possible on Earth. NASA’s history-making Ingenuity…
Historic First: NASA Uses Two Worlds to Test Future Mars Helicopter Designs
Engineers will go beyond the ends of the Earth to find more performance for future Mars helicopters. For the first time in history, two planets…
Sun’s Curtain Call: Mars Missions Go Rogue During Solar Conjunction
Rovers and orbiters will continue collecting limited data during a two-week communications pause due to the position of Earth, the Sun, and the Red Planet….
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Flies Again After Premature Landing
The helicopter performed a short hop to help the team better understand why its previous flight was interrupted. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter successfully completed its…
Communications Blackout Over: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Finally Phones Home
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter successfully completed its 52nd flight, despite communication dropouts due to challenging Martian terrain. Contact with the helicopter was re-established on June…
Ingenuity Soars: NASA’s Mars Helicopter Aces 50th Flight – “We Are Not in Martian Kansas Anymore”
The history-making rotorcraft has recently been negotiating some of the most hazardous terrain it’s encountered on the Red Planet. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter marked its…
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Completes First Flight With New Navigation Software
Compared to some of the other flights this past year, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s Flight 34 might not stand out. Wednesday’s successful 18-second flight was even…
NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Spots Foreign Object Debris on Mars
Footage from the Mars helicopter’s navigation camera reveals a small piece of foreign object debris (FOD). During a portion of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter’s 33rd…
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Goes on Vacation
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Postpones Flights Until August It’s now dust season and winter in the area on Mars where NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is located….
Piloting NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter With a Dead Sensor
The Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, is a technology experiment that achieved the first powered, controlled flight on the Red Planet. It rode to Mars in the…
Risky Winter on Mars: Each Sol Could Be Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s Last
Although NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has defied expectations, proved that powered, controlled flight of an aircraft was possible on Mars, and has been an incredible…
Watch the Dramatic Video of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s Record-Breaking Flight
Farther and Faster Than Ever Before Imagery has come down from Mars capturing a recent flight in which the NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flew farther…
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter in Contact With Perseverance Rover After Communications Dropout
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) mission controllers received confirmation on Thursday, May 5, 2022, that the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter had re-established communications with the…
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Scouts Ridgeline for Perseverance Science Team
The rotorcraft provided rover scientists an aerial perspective of an interesting rocky outcrop. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter recently surveyed an intriguing ridgeline near the ancient…
NASA Ingenuity Helicopter Spots Spacecraft Wreckage on Mars – Perseverance’s Cone-Shaped Backshell
Eyeing some of the components that enabled the Perseverance rover to get safely to the Martian surface could provide valuable insights for future missions. NASA’s…