NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flies autonomously on Mars
Climbing to maximum altitude of 10ft (3m), it hovered, then touched down on the surface after logging 39.1 seconds of flight.
NASA’s
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The Ingenuity team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving data from the helicopter via NASA’s
Perseverance Mars rover at 6:46 a.m. EDT April 19, 2021.
Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said, “We don’t know exactly where Ingenuity will lead us, but today’s results indicate the sky – at least on Mars – may not be the limit.”
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter succeeds in historic first flight
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Ingenuity makes history with first controlled flight on Mars
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A ridge on Mars has been named after the late Jappie van Zyl, the Namibian engineer behind the Mars helicopter. Stock photo: iStockPhoto
A piece of real estate on planet Mars has been named after a Namibian man, Jakob (Japie) van Zyl, who studied at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, obtaining an honours degree in electronic engineering in 1979.
Van Zyl was the leader of the team that created Ingenuity Mars Helicopter which yesterday made history – becoming the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet! (Watch below.)
Sadly Van Zyl did not live to see this incredible achievement. The 64-year-old passed away in August 2020, after suffering a heart attack in California, where he lived. He did at least see the launch, a month before he died, of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which carried Ingenuity to the red planet.