Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2021

6 MAY-JUNE 2021 ASTRO PUBLISHING M embers of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter team in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory prepare to receive the data downlink showing whether the helicopter completed its first flight on April 19, 2021. [NASA/JPL-Caltech] I n this video captured by NASA’s Perseverance rover, the agency's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took the first powered, controlled flight on another planet on April 19, 2021. [NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS] wind – or the lack thereof – was no longer the factor determining where a vehicle could go. Fast-forward to 2021, and remote- controlled drones with built-in hi- def cameras and batteries capable of supporting 30 minutes or more of flight are both affordable and com- monplace. The Ingenuity helicopter extends drone capabilities on Earth to Mars and to any other planets with a sufficiently thick atmosphere. For Ingenuity, successful operation requires a delicate balance of weight, battery size, internal heating, and propeller design to work at a surface