NASA Mars Ingenuity Helicopter First Flight: How the Rotocraft Lifted Off Martian Atmosphere [WATCH]

NASA Mars Ingenuity successfully flies on Mars which is recorded as the first powered and controlled flight of an aircraft that lifted off the surface of the Red Planet.

The small helicopter's flight lasted for 40 seconds but despite the short time, it is considered a giant accomplishment as many doubted the possibility of flying on Mars. Ingenuity hovered over the Martian surface at 3 meters before it swiveled and landed. This also marks the beginning of more adventurous flights on space.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succeeds in Historic First Flight

(Photo: Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

How Ingenuity Helicopter Fly on Mars

MiMi Aung, Ingenuity Project Manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said that many people do not believe that flying on Mars on possible due to the very little air.

The very thin atmosphere of Mars makes flying very difficult since it merely has 1% of the density of the Earth's atmosphere. It is equivalent to about 100,000 feet altitude on Earth.

How did they make Ingenuity fly? The Mars-copter was extremely light as it weighs only 4 pounds on Earth which is 1.5 pounds on Mars. To make it fly, it has a peak power of 350 watts allowing it to turn its blades at more than 2,500 revolutions per minute.

Equipped with a tiny processor and eight lithium-ion batteries, they used autonomous navigation technology to fly the rotorcraft. According to National Geographic, it has two carbon-fiber rotors, which span four feet from tip to tip, rotating five times faster than normal helicopters.

Aung said that she was not surprised that the helicopter's first flight was successful.

"We really had nailed the equations, the models, and the verification here on Earth in our laboratory tests. So, it then became a question of: have we chosen the right materials to build Ingenuity, to survive the space environment, to survive the Mars environment? We've gone from 'theory says you can' to really now having done it. It's a major first for the human race," she said in an interview with BBC News.

ALSO READ: NASA Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Unlocks Rotorblades Ahead of Flight

NASA Controllers Learn Ingenuity's First Flight

"Ingenuity is reporting having performed spin-up, takeoff, climb, hover, descent, landing, touchdown, and spin-down." This was the announcement before the first black and white photo of the helicopter casting a shadow on the Martian surface was sent to the team.

The glorious moment was dubbed as the Wright Brothers moment in reference to Wilbur and Orville Wright first flew an aircraft on Earth in 1903. It is also noted that Ingenuity has a small swatch of fabric from the wings of the first aircraft's historic flight.

NASA Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen also announced that the Martian airfield where the flight took place is called Wright Brothers Field. NASA press release said that this is "in recognition of the ingenuity and innovation that continue to propel exploration.”