NASA Ingenuity

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars drone recently landed on Mars with the Perseverance rover. It is now preparing to take its first flight on the Martian planet. The downlink was received shortly after the landing, indicating the helicopter and base station are working correctly.

If you stop and think about it, space explorations all involved unmanned vehicles. Most of them are programmed to carry out their maneuvers autonomously. In our mind, that qualifies them as drones. And today, in a testament to the power of engineering and hard work, NASA’s Perseverance is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet.

NASA‘s Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully powered on and charged its batteries marking the first time the helicopter has been powered on in space. The batteries were charged to 35%, an optimal level to keep the batteries healthy during the journey to Mars.