NASA powers up Mars helicopter for the first time

NASA’s Mars helicopter, named Ingenuity, successfully powered up for the first time in space last week. Ingenuity is the first helicopter designed to fly on another planet. It is currently travelling to the Red

Planet aboard NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which launched on 30 July.

On 7 August the helicopter’s six lithium-ion batteries were powered up and charged for the first time in space. The 1.8-kilogram (four-pound) Ingenuity, which is currently stowed beneath Perseverance’s belly, receives its charge from the rover’s power supply.

“This was a big milestone, as it was our first opportunity to turn on Ingenuity and give its electronics a ‘test drive’ since we launched on 30 July,” said Tim Canham, the operations lead for

Mars Helicopter at NASA’s

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. “Since everything went by the book, we’ll perform the same activity about every two weeks to maintain an acceptable state of charge.”

Left: These results further our understanding of exactly how the two bodies are composed and how they came to be Right: The Mars helicopter is the first of its kind