Nearly two years after beginning its mission, NASA’s Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, successfully completed its 50th flight with a 145.7-second hop on April 13. The rotorcraft flew for the first time on April 19, 2021, marking the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. Originally expected to survive for just five flights, Ingenuity has logged approximately 89.2 minutes in the air and flown for over 11,546 meters (7.1 miles) to date.
“We have exceeded our expected cumulative flight time since our technology demonstration wrapped by 1,250% and expected distance flown by 2,214%,” said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity team lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). “We have come so far, and we want to go farther. But we have known since the very beginning our time at Mars was limited, and every operational day is a blessing.”
JPL says it plans to fly Ingenuity more frequently going forward in order to keep up with the Perseverance rover., which serves as a communications relay for the rotorcraft. Weighing in at 1.8 kilograms, Ingenuity was launched with the rover in July 2020 with the goal of testing powered, controlled flight on Mars. The helicopter’s mission was extended last March to include supporting the Perseverance’s exploration of the Jezero Crater.
