One small hop for Nasa from Mars surface

Nasa’s experimental helicopter Ingenuity rose into the thin air above the dusty red surface of Mars yesterday, achieving the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet. The triumphwas hailed as awright brothers moment. The mini 1.8kg copter carried a bit of wing fabric from the Wright Flyer thatmade similar history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903. It was a brief hop – just 39 seconds and 3m. ‘‘Goosebumps. It looks just thewaywe had tested,’’ projectmanager Mimi Aung said as shewatched the flight video.