NASA’s recent mission to Mars had been long delayed due to supply chain issues but the Perseverance rover successfully touched down on February 18, 2021. However, while the rover was important, a much smaller vehicle packed inside stole the show. A little helicopter named Ingenuity, less 50 cm (19 inches) tall and only weighing 1.8 kg (4.0 lbs), accomplished something amazing. Ingenuity made headlines as it managed preprogrammed sustained flight at an altitude of 3 m (9.8 ft) for 40 seconds. While the flight didn’t last long or fly high, it was an amazing achievement as Mars’ atmosphere is extremely thin compared to Earth’s. Besides, the Wright Brothers’ famous Wright Flyer only flew for 37 m (120 ft) and was in the air for only 12 seconds on it’s first successful flight. In a touching nod to the Wright Brothers, the place where Ingenuity first flew was named Wright Brothers Field. Not only that but Ingenuity carries a physical piece of the Wright Flyer, a piece of wing fabric which is attached to a cable underneath the solar panel. However, news and media eventually died down and Ingenuity fell out of the view of the public’s eye, mostly due to the ongoing pandemic which instead occupied peoples’ minds. Ingenuity continued to make flights and exceeded expectations. It was expected that Ingenuity would only do about 5 flights before it would fail. However, the little helicopter exceeded that goal, performing a total of 72 flights. However, disaster eventually struck. Contact had been occasionally lost with Ingenuity multiple times without any alarming discoveries. However, after the 72nd flight, contact was lost. Contact was eventually restored on January 20, 2024 but it was sadly discovered that an error, one of the carbon fiber rotor blades had been damaged. While it is sad that Ingenuity has been retired, let us not forget that it lasted almost 3 years and did 72 flights. In less than 120 years, we have gone from the first powered flight on the Earth to the first powered flight on Mars. Hopefully, Ingenuity will go down in history as an important milestone in space exploration.
Meanwhile, everyone’s favorite plutonium powered rover—no offense Curiosity—continues to explore on Mars. Perserverance has taken multiple samples of rock contained in sample tubes stored inside the rover; one day, it may be possible to retrieve said samples and send them back to earth where further analysis. While Perserverance might not have spied any little green men or evidence of bacteria—as of the writing of this article—it’s contributions to science must not be understated. It discovered igneous rock in the crate it landed, suggesting the possibility of a lava lake before it was filled with water. Famously, Perserverance recorded the first ever audio from Mars. Hopefully, it’s search for evidence of past life proves fruitful. May it continue to operate for as long as possible.
