A staff member places a full-scale model of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on a table ahead of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landing on February 18, 2021 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP)
WASHINGTON — NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter could make its first flight over the Red Planet as soon as Monday, the US space agency reported, following a delay of more than a week due to a possible technical issue.
The mini-helicopter’s trip will mark the first-ever powered, controlled flight on another planet, and will help NASA reap invaluable data about the conditions on Mars.
“NASA is targeting no earlier than Monday, April 19, for the first flight of its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter,” the space agency reported Saturday.
Data will return to Earth “a few hours following the autonomous flight,” which would take off at approximately 3:30 am, NASA said.
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Ingenuity’s first trip was initially set for last Sunday, but was delayed after a potential issue emerged during a high-speed test of the four-pound (1.8 kilogram) helicopter’s rotors.
NASA calls the unprecedented helicopter operation highly risky: The flight is a challenge because the air on Mars is so thin — less than one percent of the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere.
