“Sojourner, this tiny little rover the size of a microwave, paved the way for Curiosity and Perseverance,” Bob Balaram of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ingenuity’s chief engineer, tells Astronomy. These next-generation aerial robots could even serve as scouts that collect samples and return them to landers or wheeled rovers for scientific analysis. But future Mars helicopters could potentially be much larger and more capable, allowing them to explore expansive or hard-to-reach areas far more quickly than traditional rovers. It’s designed to take-off, hover no more than a few dozen feet above the surface, maneuver through Mars’ thin air, and land on flat terrain. Standing under 2 feet (0.6 meters) tall and weighing less than 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms), Ingenuity has relatively limited abilities. And if it works, the long-term impact could be a game-changer for Mars exploration. The data it gathers will help engineers build even larger helicopter drones for the Red Planet. While Perseverance searches for signs of alien life, Ingenuity will prove it’s possible to fly in Mars’ thin atmosphere. This small, solar-powered helicopter, named Ingenuity, is on mission totally independent from the rover. But there’s also a robotic hitchhiker onboard. On July 22, NASA plans to launch its Mars Perseverance rover. And though earthlings quickly learned that traveling to another planet isn’t so easy, the fantasy of flying on Mars never died.Īnd now, that dream is on the verge of being fulfilled. He envisioned a winged craft soaring through the Red Planet’s atmosphere, landing gently on the rust-colored surface. He wanted to send dozens of people to Mars. When America first dreamed of sending astronauts to another world, German-American rocket engineer Wernher von Braun didn’t want to go to the Moon.
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