NASA's "Ingenuity" helicopter carried out its first flight in the Martian atmosphere on Monday after a delay of more than a week due to a technical issue. This flight marks the first instance of an aircraft with a motor flying in the atmosphere of another planet besides Earth, allowing the agency to gather valuable data about the conditions for life on Mars.
In a statement issued on Saturday, NASA indicated that "the first data from the helicopter is expected to reach Earth a few hours after its autonomous flight."
Taking off in the Martian atmosphere poses a challenge, as its density is only one percent of Earth's atmospheric density, and it is the air push created by the rotation of the helicopter's blades that enables it to fly. This means that "Ingenuity's" blades must spin much faster than those of a typical helicopter to achieve flight.
"Ingenuity" successfully spun its blades for the first time on April 9 during testing, operating at a speed of 2400 revolutions per minute—five times faster than a standard helicopter. However, the full-speed test of the helicopter's blades ended earlier than planned due to an alert about a potential issue, leading NASA to postpone the flight.
It is noteworthy that this Martian event is considered to be as significant as the milestone represented by the first powered flight on Earth in 1903.
