First in Flight: NASA Just Proved Flying on Mars Is Possible--Next Up Is the Solar System With Ingenuity’s five successful flights on the Red Planet, aviation may find unexpected footing in the future of space exploration Print NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured this image of its shadow during the rotorcraft's second experimental test flight on April 22, 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Advertisement Picture the scene: A small drone the size of a suitcase descends into a dark Martian crevasse—perhaps a lava tube that was formed billions of years ago by volcanic activity on the Red Planet. The drone illuminates its surroundings, recording views never seen before by human eyes as its suite of instruments seeks out signs of past or present alien biology. Finally, its reconnaissance complete, the drone flies back to a landing zone on the surface to transmit invaluable data back to Earth. After soaking up the Martian sunlight to recharge its batteries, it continues its explorations of terrain inaccessible to any other machine.