HISTORIC FLIGHT OF INGENUITY

THE FIRST HELIPCOPTER TO FLY OVER MARS

Three meters. This is the altitude at which Ingenuity, the first helicopter in history to be sent to Mars, made its first flight on Monday. His feat was filmed by the Perserverance rover from Martian soil.

After rising to three meters of altitude, having spent 30 seconds in suspension, the small NASA helicopter rested safely on Martian soil.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter became the first motorized craft to fly to another planet on Monday, April 19.

"We can now say that humans flew a motorized device to another planet!" Enthusiastically Ms. MiMi Aung, helicopter project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

An unprecedented technical feat which brings the small twin-blade drone into the pantheon of aerospace history. This flight was filmed by the Perseverance rover, which arrived in February on the Red Planet. A few images have already been released, and the helicopter itself has sent a black and white photo, showing its shadow on the red planet.

Tuesday, the day after the flight, once its batteries are recharged, the helicopter must transmit a color photo of the horizon taken by its other camera. The full video taken by Perseverance is due to be transmitted in "the following days," said Elsa Jensen, head of the rover's cameras.

A real challenge

The operation was a real challenge, as the Martian air is of a density equivalent to only 1% of that of the Earth's atmosphere. However, it is by pushing the air while turning that the propellers can lift weight. On Mars, "there are simply fewer molecules to push," MiMi Aung explained before the flight.

To achieve this feat, even if the gravity is three times weaker there than on Earth, the NASA teams therefore had to develop an ultralight machine (1.8 kg), the blades of which turn much faster than a standard helicopter. . With its four feet and two superimposed blades (1.2m in length), it looks more like a large drone.

A second flight scheduled for Thursday

After this first success, NASA intends to embolden itself while time is running out, the lifespan of Ingenuity on Mars being one month. The second flight could take place as early as April 22. Other flights are planned, of increasing difficulty.

For its second flight, the helicopter is expected to climb to a height of five meters and move horizontally a few meters. If all goes well, Ingenuity will make a round trip of about fifty meters for his third attempt.