WASHINGTON – The United States space agency said it expects to fly the first helicopter on Mars in early April.
The little chopper was carried to the Red Planet by the Perseverance rover, which made its dramatic landing in Jezero Crater just over a month ago.
Called Ingenuity, the 1.8-kilogram, twin-rotor aircraft will attempt a series of short hops in Mars’ rarefied air.
If successful, it would represent something of a “Wright Brothers moment”, National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.
This is a reference of course to Orville and Wilbur Wright, who in 1903 conducted the historic first heavier-than-air, powered aircraft flight here on Earth.
And to mark the connection, the agency revealed that a postage stamp-sized piece of fabric from a wing of the brothers’ plane has been taped to Ingenuity.
At the moment, the chopper is still attached to Perseverance, to its belly. A protective covering was released at the weekend and in the coming days the craft will be lowered to the ground.(BBC)
