NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter gets set to explore Mars – CNET [CNET]

Prior to its deployment, Ingenuity was tucked inside the Perseverance rover. That allowed the helicopter to charge its battery and heat itself using the power of the rover, which kept the interior at about 45 degrees Fahrenheit through the cold Martian nights, when temperatures can drop to as low as minus 130 F.

In this animation, Ingenuity swings down, with two of its four legs extended, from the belly of the Perseverance rover on March 28, 2021.

The Ingenuity helicopter is seen here underneath the Perseverance rover, with its four legs extended.

Here, the Ingenuity helicopter is seen in a closeup taken by the rover’s Mastcam-Z pair of cameras. 

We’re not going to be drone-racing around Mars on day one. Initially, the plan is for the helicopter to start off slow, taking off and hovering just a few feet from the ground for about 20 to 30 seconds before landing. 

But that first flight will be a major milestone. It will be the very first powered flight in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars.

If this first effort at flight is a success, the Ingenuity helicopter will then attempt increasingly challenging flights of farther distances and greater altitudes.