AeroVironment’s Helicopter on Mars

 Space helicopter Ingenuity became the first aircraft in history to make a controlled flight on another planet as the craft successfully hovered above the surface of Mars on April 19.Ingenuity, which traveled to the red planet aboard the Perseverance Mars rover, was developed and built by Simi Valley drone manufacturer AeroVironment Inc. for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada-Flintridge, which is overseeing the rover mission.According to a statement from JPL, Ingenuity became airborne and climbed to its prescribed maximum altitude of 10 feet where it hovered for 30 seconds. The helicopter then descended and touched back down on the Martian surface.“AeroVironment is proud to have played a key role in developing the Mars Ingenuity helicopter and achieving today’s historic first powered flight on another planet,” Chief Executive Wahid Nawabi said in a statement.

“We congratulate JPL and NASA on today’s achievement and salute their leadership and vision for deploying unmanned technology to further our understanding of other worlds.”Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk called Ingenuity the latest in a long tradition of NASA projects achieving a goal once thought impossible.

“We don’t know exactly where Ingenuity will lead us, but today’s results indicate the sky – at least on Mars – may not be the limit,” Jurczyk said in a statement.