Ingenuity
NASA · United States · Space · also known as Mars Helicopter, Ginny · Updated
Ingenuity is a small solar-powered helicopter that NASA built as a technology demonstration and carried to Mars underneath the Perseverance rover. On 19 April 2021 it made the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft on another planet, and it went on to fly 72 times before NASA ended the campaign in January 2024. It was operated from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is no longer flying.
Design and capabilities
Ingenuity weighs 1.8 kg and stands about half a metre tall on four slender legs. Two coaxial rotors turn in opposite directions above the fuselage, with a tip-to-tip span of just under 1.2 metres. The blades spin far faster than a terrestrial helicopter rotor because the Martian atmosphere is roughly one per cent as dense as Earth's at sea level, so each blade generates very little lift for its area. A solar panel mounted above the rotors recharges a set of lithium-ion batteries, which NASA sized for about one 90-second flight per Martian day. Heating the electronics through the cold Martian night consumed a large share of the stored energy.
NASA gives a maximum ground speed of 10 metres per second, or 36 km/h, and a range of up to about 300 metres per sortie. Flight altitudes were low by the standards of terrestrial aircraft: the agency records a maximum of 24 metres above the surface, and the final sortie reached about 12 metres. Because atmospheric conditions on Mars are not comparable to Earth, no service ceiling figure is published. Navigation relied on a downward-looking camera, an inertial measurement unit and a laser altimeter, with each flight planned in advance and uploaded from Earth.
Programme status
The helicopter was designed for a 30-day demonstration of up to five flights. It instead operated for almost three years, covering 17.0 km in 128.8 minutes of total flight time across 72 flights. NASA says it flew more than 14 times farther than planned and lasted more than 33 times longer than its original mission.
The last flight took place on 18 January 2024. During that sortie the helicopter climbed to about 12 metres, hovered, and descended; imagery afterwards showed that one or more rotor blades had been damaged during landing. NASA announced the end of the mission on 25 January 2024. The airframe remains on the surface of Mars and continues to return limited data as a stationary weather and test station, but it cannot fly again.
FAQ
Is it flying today? No. NASA retired the flight campaign on 25 January 2024 after rotor blade damage, and the helicopter is permanently grounded.
How many people does it carry? None. Ingenuity is uncrewed and was flown by pre-planned command sequences sent from Earth.
How high did it fly? Its highest recorded flight reached 24 metres above the Martian surface.