Red sky’s the limit for Mars helicopter in first flight on another planet

NASA is about to attempt a Martian helicopter launch in the first powered and controlled flight on another planet.

In an extraordinary scientific leap, the Ingenuity helicopter will try to take off and reach an altitude of three metres in the perilously thin atmosphere of the Red Planet.

The effort was due to take place last night but is now scheduled for Wednesday after the space agency found a possible technical issue while testing its rotors.

Ingenuity was delivered to Mars by Perseverance, the Nasa rover.

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of Nasa, compared what was about to happen to the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903.

He said: “We’re ready on the surface of Mars. We’re ready for another historic moment, the likes of which I believe has analogues in 1903.

“Controlled flight on a different planet. It’s an amazing feat we’re about to attempt.” 

He added: “Just as Ingenuity was inspired by the Wright brothers, future explorers will take off using both the data and inspiration from this mission.”

Ingenuity weighs almost 2kg and is made of light carbon fibre. It arrived on Mars attached to the belly of Perseverance in a dramatic landing on February 18. That followed an eight-month journey of nearly 500 million kilometres. 

When Ingenuity lifts off, Perseverance’s cameras will be trained on it.

Video will be beamed back to mission control at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, although the data will take some time to assimilate.

The flight plan is to rise vertically for about six seconds to three metres, then hover for about 30 seconds and rotate, before taking a picture of Perseverance, and then slowly descending.

It will be an autonomous flight and Nasa will not be able to control the helicopter remotely.  Because the Martian atmosphere is only 1pc of Earth’s, the blades will have to spin extremely fast, at 2,537rpm, to get lift. 

Taryn Bailey, a Nasa engineer, said: “The big question is can we really fly a helicopter in the thin Martian atmosphere? If we can successfully prove we can fly in a completely different atmosphere, that will usher in a new wave of technology
.” (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]