Martian helicopter takes ‘milestone’ in flight to planet

So far, all is well for the small helicopter who is about to become the first to fly into space. NASA announced that the Mars Ingenuity helicopter was alive and well and successfully reloaded in the middle of space flight.

Ingenuity is currently positioned in the belly of the Perseverance rover, which launched last month on a historic mission to the red planet. NASA reported that the rover’s power supply had successfully brought the rotorcraft’s six lithium-ion batteries to a 35% charge – the optimal level to keep the batteries healthy while cruising to Mars.

“This was a big milestone as it was our first opportunity to activate Ingenuity and take its electronics ‘test drive’ since our launch on July 30,” said Tim Canham, operations manager at Mars Helicopter. “Since everything went as planned, we will be performing the same activity approximately every two weeks to maintain an acceptable state of charge.”

Once Perseverance hits Mars, the batteries will be charged by the helicopter’s solar panel, NASA said. If Ingenuity can withstand the cold Martian nights, the team will go ahead with test flights.

“This charging activity shows that we have survived the launch and that so far we can handle the harsh environment of interplanetary space,” said project leader MiMi Aung. “We still have a lot of firsts to go before we can attempt the first experimental flight test on another planet, but for now we all feel very good about the future.”

The 4-pound helicopter will attempt to fly solo a few months after the rover lands on Mars. It will first attempt to rise 10 feet into the planet’s extremely thin atmosphere and fly forward up to 6 feet. With each attempt, he will try to go a little higher and further.

“It’s really like the Wright Brothers moment,” Aung said last month before the launch.