Looks like we could use an open thread and I had this waiting in the wings.
CBS Sunday Morning profiled Ingenuity and the engineers and the pilot who made it possible (you have no idea how much I keep wanting to write “she and her” in regards to Ingenuity). It’s worth a watch if space exploration interests you.
May 5, 2024When NASA added a drone named Ingenuity to its Mars 2020 rover Perseverance, it expected the tiny four-pound helicopter to fly a total of five very brief missions in the thin Martian atmosphere. But Ingenuity far surpassed all expectations, flying dozens of flights before suffering damage to its rotors in January. Correspondent David Pogue reports on how the tiny drone, created from off-the-shelf parts, continued to provide valuable data and images from the Red Planet three years into its mission.
Jan 25, 2024On April 19, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history when it completed the first powered, controlled flight on the Red Planet. It flew for the last time on January 18, 2024. Designed to be a technology demonstration that would make no more than five test flights in 30 days, the helicopter eventually completed 72 flights in just under 3 years, soaring higher and faster than previously imagined. Ingenuity embarked on a new mission as an operations demonstration, serving as an aerial scout for scientists and rover planners, and for engineers ready to learn more about Perseverance’s landing gear debris. In its final phase, the helicopter entered a new engineering demonstration phase where it executed experimental flight tests that further expanded the team’s knowledge of the vehicle’s aerodynamic limits. For more information on Ingenuity, go to: mars.nasa.gov/ingenuity
Here’s the NASA page on Ingenuity: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission
Curiosity landed on my birthday and since then, I’ve been fascinated by the Mars missions. I love that Ingenuity was the little helicopter that many doubted and exceeded all expectations.
Open thread
