Small NASA chopper nearly ready for Mars flight NASA to attempt to fly small helicopter on Mars in coming days Tags: The most important aspect of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is obviously to search for past life on the Red Planet -- but the most fascinating aspect may take place this week. In yet another historic flight, NASA is planning to fly a small helicopter on Mars. If successful, the 4-pound helicopter named Ingenuity would be the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet! More: Ad Once completely deployed to the surface, Perseverance left Ingenuity alone so that the sun could charge the little helicopter’s batteries. Back when Ingenuity was attached to Perseverance, it received power from the rover, which allowed the chopper’s heater to keep its internal components at 45 degrees during the bitter cold Martian nights.