NASA’s robotic helicopter Ingenuity made the first powered flight on another planet in 2021.
Ingenuity arrived on Mars attached to NASA’s Perseverance rover, which carried it to Jezero Crater. On April 19, 2021, Ingenuity rose about 3 metres above the Martian surface, hovered, and landed after roughly 39 seconds. The brief test demonstrated that a heavier-than-air aircraft could fly in Mars’s extremely thin atmosphere.
The helicopter was originally intended to complete five experimental flights during a 30-day technology demonstration. Its success led NASA to continue operating it as an aerial scout for Perseverance. Ingenuity used four carbon-fibre blades, a solar panel for charging, and autonomous flight software because communication delays made real-time piloting impossible.
A common mix-up is calling Ingenuity a rover: Perseverance is the wheeled rover, while Ingenuity is the aircraft it carried. Ingenuity completed 72 flights before its mission ended in January 2024 after rotor damage prevented further flying.