⁍ Ingenuity will be the first helicopter to attempt flight on another planet.
⁍ Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena began working on the design for a lightweight aircraft that could fly on Mars in 2014.
⁍ The helicopter isn’t carrying any science instruments because it is the experiment itself, or what NASA calls a technology demonstration.
⁍ This test will allow them to attempt three separate flights of a helicopter on another planet for the first time.
⁍ If Ingenuity’s technology demonstration is successful, it could pave the way for more advanced robotic aircraft to be used on future missions to Mars.

– “The Wright Brothers showed that powered flight in Earth’s atmosphere was possible, using an experimental aircraft,” says H ⁇ vard Grip, Ingenuity’s chief pilot at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “With Ingenuity, we’re trying to do the same for Mars.” Ingenuity is an “incredibly lightweight” 4-pound helicopter that will be tucked beneath NASA’s Perseverance rover when it launches on a seven-month mission to Mars at the end of this month, Space.com reports. Ingenuity will be the first helicopter to attempt flight on another planet. Engineers at JPL began working on the design for a lightweight aircraft that could fly on Mars in 2014. Testing of a succession of models continued up through January 2019, when the design passed its final tests. Ingenuity is an incredibly lightweight design, weighing only 4 pounds and featuring four carbon-fiber blades, solar cells, and batteries. The blades are divided among two rotors spinning opposite of each other. Ingenuity’s rotors will spin much faster than the helicopters we have on Earth. Mars has an incredibly thin atmosphere, so the design for Ingenuity had to be lightweight while including larger and faster rotors to get it up in the air.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/17/world/coronavirus-newsletter-07-17-20-intl/index.html