NASA's Mini Helicopter On Mars Exceeds Expectations With 50 Flights In Under 2 Years

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter completed its 50th flight on Mars on Thursday less than two years after its first in April 2021.

What Happened: The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter completed its 50th flight on Mars on Thursday after landing on the planet in February 2021 as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, NASA said in a statement.

The helicopter was intended to prove the possibility of powered, controlled flight on Mars and executed ten times its initial goal of five flights.

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"Just as the Wright brothers continued their experiments well after that momentous day at Kitty Hawk in 1903, the Ingenuity team continues to pursue and learn from the flight operations of the first aircraft on another world," NASA Director of the Planetary Science Division Lori Glaze said in a statement.

The helicopter now plans to perform another repositioning flight before exploring the "Fall River Pass" region of Mars’ Jezero Crater.

However, Ingenuity, now 23 months beyond its expected lifetime, is showing signs of wear and runs out of power at night while trying to keep warm.

“Whether Ingenuity's mission ends tomorrow, next week, or months from now is something no one can predict at present. What I can predict is that when it does, we'll have one heck of a party," said Ingenuity team lead Teddy Tzanetos.

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