Mars Helicopter
Ingenuity
AV’s team of innovative engineers from our MacCready Works Advanced Solutions team worked with NASA/JPL to design and develop a helicopter carried by the Mars rover, Perseverance. The helicopter's name is Ingenuity, and its purpose is to demonstrate the viability of aerial robots for planetary exploration.
The vehicles arrived on Mars in February 2021. Within two months of landing on the surface of Mars, and after traveling 330 meters from its landing site, Perseverance deposited Ingenuity onto Martian soil, where it successfully attempted its maiden voyage – The first flight of an aircraft on another celestial body. Its short hop over the surface of the Red Planet marked a giant leap for robotic technology. Since its maiden voyage, Ingenuity has far exceeded expectations by successfully completing 72 flights!
INGENUITY ON MARS
Technical Specs
- Mass
- 1.8 kilograms
- Weight
- 4 pounds on Earth; 1.5 pounds on Mars
- Width
- Total length of rotors: ~4 feet (~1.2 meters) tip to tip
- Power
- Solar panel charges Lithium-ion battery, providing enough energy for up to 170 seconds of flight time
- Blade Span
- Just under 4 feet (1.2 meters)
- Flight Range
- Up to 2,050 feet (625 meters)
- Flight Altitude
- Up to 33 feet (10 meters)
- Flight Environment
- Thin atmosphere,
less than 1% as dense as Earth's
INGENUITY FACTS
- Name
- Ingenuity
- Initial Job
- A technology demonstration to test the first powered flight on Mars. The helicopter rode to Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover.
- Launch
- July 30, 2020
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida - Delivery Date on Mars
- February 18, 2021
- Landing Site
- Jezero Crater, Mars
- First Flight
- April 19, 2021
- Total Missions
- 72
- Distance Flown
- 11 miles (17 km)
- Time Flown
- ~128.8 minutes
- SOLs Achieved Since Deployment
- 1035
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