How NASA flew a helicopter on Mars

NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter completes its second flight on the red planet.

On the red planet of Mars, the Ingenuity Helicopter flew for around 50 seconds and soared 16 feet through the intergalactic atmosphere before touching down again. 

NASA’s chief pilot says “there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars and the organisation is aiming to make these unknowns, known.”

Whilst flying, the helicopter was also able to take another image and send it back down to earth. 

“So far, the engineering telemetry we have received and analysed tells us that the flight met expectations and our prior computer modeling has been accurate,” says Bob Balaram, chief engineer for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity.”