NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter today became the first aircraft to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. After initial delays, the chopper took off at 3:34 a.m. ET (12:33 Mars time), chosen for its optimal energy and flight conditions.
Early data suggests Ingenuity reached its expected maximum altitude of 10 feet, maintained a stable hover for 30 seconds, and touched down again after a total 39.1 seconds of flight. The team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is awaiting additional details.
“Ingenuity is the latest in a long and storied tradition of NASA projects achieving a space exploration goal once thought impossible,” acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk said in a statement. “We don’t know exactly where Ingenuity will lead us, but today’s results indicate the sky—at least on Mars—may not be the limit.”
The autonomous demonstration was piloted by onboard guidance, navigation, and control systems running algorithms developed by JPL. Due to the distance between the Southern California laboratory and the Red Planet, Ingenuity’s historic levitation was not observable in real time. You can, however, watch NASA’s livestream of the event.
In honor of another famous flight, NASA has named the Martian area where Ingenuity took off Wright Brothers Field. “Now, 117 years after the Wright brothers succeeded in making the first flight on our planet, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has succeeded in performing this amazing feat on another world,” associate administrator for science Thomas Zurbuchen said in a statement.
“While these two iconic moments in aviation history may be separated by time and 173 million miles of space, they now will forever be linked,” he continued. “As an homage to the two innovative bicycle makers from Dayton, the first of many airfields on other worlds will now be known as Wright Brothers Field.”
The excitement doesn’t end there, though. The United Nations’ civil aviation agency ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) presented NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration with official ICAO designator IGY, call-sign INGENUITY. The Jezero Crater location has also been given the ceremonial designation JZRO.
Ingenuity is expected to lift off as many as five times over 30 Martian sols (31 Earth days). Each 90-second flight could reach altitudes of 10 to 16 feet and travel as far as 160 feet. But, thanks to a less-than-ideal atmosphere—which received about half the amount of solar energy as Earth during the day, and can reach temperatures as low as -130℉ at night—Ingenuity needs to be small and lightweight while carrying enough energy to power internal heaters.
“We have been thinking for so long about having our Wright brothers moment on Mars, and here it is,” Ingenuity project manager MiMi Aung said. “We will take a moment to celebrate our success and then take a cue from Orville and Wilbur regarding what to do next. History shows they got back to work—to learn as much as they could about their new aircraft—and so will we.”
