“The Little Helo that Could” Soldiers Onward 

The impressively long-lived Ingenuity, the aircraft sent under the Mars Helicopter project, has seen yet another milestone, passing the 30-minute mark for lifetime flight. The most recent 117-second sortie saw the little helo fly closer to its initial deployment point at "Wright Brothers Field" in order to meet NASA's Perseverance Mars rover after it finishes its tour of the South Séítah region of the Jezero Martian crater. 

Ingenuity is the first powered aircraft to fly another planet, achieving far and beyond its original design intent. From the start, the 4-pound helicopter was expected to complete a few brief take-offs and landings to prove the viability of powered flight for future mission options. After its initial mission was completed, the Jet Propulsion Lab’s Mars Helicopter Team checked the equipment for further use and found, despite initial expectations, that the system remained perfectly operable. 

The Ingenuity has survived on the harsh Martian surface since April 19.2021, weathering brutally cold winter months it was never intended to survive. Through the change of seasons and varying air density, flights required increasing output from its featherweight propulsion system to achieve sufficient lift, further taxing systems designed for lightness over robustness. The "little helicopter that could ' remained undaunted, flying from a variety of airfields as it scouted geological features of interest to the Perseverance rover's science team, sending back images never before seen on earth. The next flight on the Ingenuity schedule is expected to cover 754 feet at 5.6 mph, a relatively lengthy two-minute jaunt. 

“Few thought we would make it to flight one, fewer still to five. And no one thought we would make it this far,” said Ingenuity Team Lead Teddy Tzanetos of JPL. “On the way to accumulating over a half-hour aloft Ingenuity has survived eight months of bitter cold, and operated out of nine unique Martian airfields. The aircraft’s continued operations speaks to the robustness of the design and the diligence and passion of our small operations team.”

FMI: www.nasa.gov