Mars helicopter flight test promises Wright Brothers moment for NASA – MENAFN.COM

Mars helicopter flight test promises Wright Brothers moment for NASA – MENAFN.COM

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's carbon fiber blades can be seen in this video taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on April 8, 2021, the 48th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. AFP/NASA/JPL-Caltech (MENAFN - Gulf Times) NASA hopes to score a 21st-century Wright Brothers moment on Monday as it attempts to send a miniature helicopter buzzing over the surface of Mars in what would be the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. Landmark achievements in science and technology can seem humble by conventional measurements. The Wright Brothers' first controlled flight in the world of a motor-driven airplane, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903 covered just 120 feet in 12 seconds. A modest debut is likewise in store for NASA's twin-rotor, solar-powered helicopter Ingenuity. If all goes to plan, the 1. 8-kg whirligig will slowly ascend straight up to an altitude of 10 feet above the Martian surface, hover in place for 30 seconds, then rotate before descending to a gentle landing on all four legs. While the mere metrics may seem less than ambitious, the "air field" for the interplanetary test flight is 173 million miles from Earth, on the