Technology
NASA successfully flies helicopter on Red Planet
The U.S. space agency, NASA, Monday received images and data confirming its small helicopter, Ingenuity, successfully performed the first controlled powered flight of an aircraft on Mars.
NASA scientists in the control room burst into applause and cheers, when data confirmed Ingenuity had successfully twirled its rotors, lifted off to a height of three meters and landed safely back on the surface of Mars.
"We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet," said a delighted MiMi Aung, project manager for Ingenuity at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
"We've been talking for so long about our 'Wright Brothers moment' on Mars, and here it is."
In this regard, NASA engineer Taryn Bailey says that this has opened the way for new human research on Mars because the helicopter will be able to go to areas where the Perseverance Rover cannot go.
He further added that there are many caves on Mars and while hovering on the surface, the rover has to remove objects from its path and then move. So it is a great convenience that a vehicle flying on another planet has been used.
NASA is thought to have landed its Mars rover on February 18 after a seven-month journey.