The Ingenuity helicopter, the first aircraft in another world, has touched the surface of Mars after being deposited from the bottom of NASA’s Perseverance rover, completing the complex maneuver of deployment and descent to the surface.
The last 10 centimeters of descent, from a total height of 63 centimeters, were completed this April 4, reported NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). on his Twitter account, with an image of Ingenuity taken from Perseverance once he left the helicopter behind.
After a journey to the red planet of 471 million kilometers, the Perseverance rover headed for a terrain in Jezero Crater designated as the helicopter’s test camp, where the flight will take place, scheduled for no earlier than April 11th.
The helicopter continues to charge batteries with its solar panel and is completely autonomous for its operation. Weighing in at 1.8 pounds, the challenge now is to be able to survive the low temperatures of the Martian night.