NASA's 'Mars Helicopter' to reach red planet this week for its first 'controlled flight'

National Aeronautics and Administration (NASA) is all set to attempt first powered, controlled flight of 'Mars Helicopter' on Red Planet this week. Over a century after first powered flight on Earth, NASA transported aboard Mars 2020 craft that arrives at Martian Planet on Thursday. Called small ‘Ingenuity’ helicopter, ‘techlogy experiment’ will be subjected to several challenges with most significant being rarefied atmosphere of planet that is also just one per cent density of that of Earth’s.

Even though it can be called a ‘helicopter’, appearance is closer to that of mini-drones. NASA said in a statement that when its Perseverance rover lands on Mars on February 18, it will also be carrying a “small but mighty passenger” which is named, “Ingenuity, Mars Helicopter” that weighs about 1.8 kilograms on Earth and has a fusel about size of a tissue box. United States ncy also elaborated that it started out six years ago as an “ implausible prospect”.

NASA said, “Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Sourn California knew it was oretically possible to fly in Mars’ thin atmosphere, but one was sure wher y could build a vehicle powerful eugh to fly, communicate, and survive automously with extreme restrictions on its mass.”

Im credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Crucial things about ‘Mars helicopter’

Ingenuity is an ‘experimental flight test: NASA has stressed that ‘Mars Helicopter’ or what is kwn as a techlogy demonstration is also “a narrowly focused project that seeks to test a new capability for first time”. It also informed that helicopter is currently t carrying any science instruments and is t a part of Perseverance’s ‘science mission’.

Ingenuity will attempt to take only five test flights within a 30-Martian-day (31-Earth-day) demonstration window. NASA also said that Red Planet will pose its own different set of challenges for Ingenuity to attempt its first powered, controlled flight.   US ncy said, “Because Mars atmosphere is so thin, Ingenuity is designed to be light, with rotor blades that are much larger and spin much faster than what would be required for a helicopter of Ingenuity’s mass on Earth.”

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