Ingenuity's Pilot: ‘That's Why We're Here — To Make These Unknowns Known’

At the Mars “Wright Brothers Field,” the Ingenuity helicopter flew 51.9 seconds, going up higher and employing sideways movement. Håvard Grip, Ingenuity’s chief pilot at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained: “The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions. Then it headed back to the center of the airfield to land. It sounds simple, but there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars. That’s why we’re here – to make these unknowns known.” Mars has about 1% of the Earth’s atmospheric density, which makes flying is a completely new experience.The video of the experiment is available: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-logs-second-successful-flight