Ingenuity is ready for its first flight on Mars. If it is successful, it will become the first powered, controlled vehicle to fly on another planet. Ingenuity is scheduled for take-off at 12:30 p.m. local Mars time on April 11, or 10:54 EDT. When it hits a height of 10 feet above the surface in about six seconds, it is to hover for 30 seconds, and then land. The engineers are hoping Ingenuity will get four more opportunities to fly.
Ingenuity cannot communicate directly with Earth. The Perseverance rover receives orders from Mission Control in the morning for that day, and passes them on to the helicopter. Perseverance will be parked a safe distance of 215 feet away from Ingenuity'/s launch pad. The rover will take photographs of the flight, and hopefully video, which are expected to get to the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab early Monday morning, on April 12.
