The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s aerial prototype is seen on the Smithsonian Nationwide Air and House Museum’s Steve F. Udvar-Hazy Heart in Chantilly, Va, Dec. 15, 2023. The prototype, which was the primary to show it was doable to fly in a simulated Mars surroundings at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was donated to the museum.
Ingenuity’s history-making mission on Mars lately got here to an finish after a number of of its rotor blades sustained harm throughout touchdown, rendering it incapable of flight. Initially designed as a expertise demonstration to carry out as much as 5 experimental check flights over 30 days, the primary plane on one other world operated from the Martian floor for nearly three years, carried out 72 flights, and flew greater than 14 occasions farther than deliberate whereas logging greater than two hours of whole flight time.
Be part of the celebration of Ingenuity’s profitable mission through the use of the #ThanksIngenuity hashtag on social media.
Picture Credit score: NASA/Joel Kowsky
