Yesterday, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter took flight on Mars for the first time ever. The helicopter had gone to Mars along with the rover, which landed on Mars in February this year.

This amazing event was captured on video by the Perseverance rover.

In the video below, you can see the Ingenuity helicopter begins to spin its rotors and get them up to full speed. Its speed is five times faster than an Earth helicopter’s rotors. It then lifts itself 3 metres above the surface. After that, it hovers, turns toward Perseverance, and lowers comes back down.

The entire flight lasted about 40 seconds. This was the first powered controlled flight ever conducted on another planet.

Ingenuity is a technology demonstration mission. This means it was sent just to check if the technology would work on Mars. It will not be conducting any experiment.

Ingenuity will attempt up to four more flights, where it will try to fly higher and higher.

Watch the video below:

The mission to Mars is one of the most interesting things happening in space technology today. NASA and many other government and private companies are trying to find new ways of exploring the Red Planet. With Mars sharing a few similarities to Earth, scientists and researchers are excited about the possibility of travelling and perhaps living on Mars someday. Keep reading Curious Times for fascinating updates on space technology, research and space news for kids. Keep your curiosity sky high.

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