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Crazy Engineering: Mars Helicopter

January 22, 2015

JPL engineers are working on a small helicopter that could 'scout' a trail for future Mars rovers, but getting a chopper that could fly in the Martian atmosphere is tricky.

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Video from the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captures a closeup view of the 13th flight of the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, on Sept. 4, 2021.
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Video from the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captures a closeup view of the 13th flight of the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, on Sept. 4, 2021.
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's Flight 13: Zoomed-In View From Perseverance
This X-ray image shows the interior of a 3D-printed heat exchanger in Perseverance's MOXIE instrument. X-ray images like these are used to check for defects within parts.
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This X-ray image shows the interior of a palm-size 3D-printed MOXIE instrument
X-ray Image of 3D-Printed MOXIE Part
The single-engine Centaur upper stage for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is being transported to the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Comp...
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the Centaur upper stage being transported by a big truck
Mars 2020 Centaur Upper Stage Arrives at KSC
From left to right: Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands on the Moon; 47 pounds (21.5 kilograms) of samples were brought back to Earth from that mission; the Mars 2020 rover, seen here in an arti...
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From left to right: Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands on the Moon; 47 pounds (21.5 kilograms) of samples were brought back to Earth from that mission; the Mars 2020 rover, seen here in an artist's concept rover, will be taking the first planetary samples at Jezero Crater, Mars (on right).
Sample Return Firsts
This image depicts the demonstration vehicle used to prove that controlled, and sustained flight is feasible in a Martian atmosphere.
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This image depicts the demonstration vehicle used to prove that controlled, and sustained flight is feasible in a Martian atmosphere.
Mars Helicopter Prototype
Engineers react with surprise while testing how NASA’s Perseverance rover will deposit its sample tubes on the Martian surface. Less than 5% of the time, a flat end on the sample tube caused it to ...
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Engineers react with surprise while testing how NASA’s Perseverance rover will deposit its sample tubes on the Martian surface.
OPTIMISM Sticks the Landing
This nickel-alloy heat exchanger is among several that were 3D printed for the Mars Oxygen In-situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), one of the instruments aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars ro...
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This nickel-alloy heat exchanger is among several that were 3D printed for the Mars Oxygen In-situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), one of the instruments aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover.
Close-up of 3D printed MOXIE Heat Exchanger
NASA’s Perseverance rover deposited the first of several sample tubes onto the Martian surface on Dec. 21, 2022, the 653rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This composite image of the tube, fil...
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NASA’s Perseverance rover deposited the first of several sample tubes onto the Martian surface on Dec. 21, 2022, the 653rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
WATSON Documents First Sample on the Martian Surface
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its navigation camera to capture these dust devils swirling across Jezero Crater on July 20, 2021, the 148th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its navigation camera to capture these dust devils swirling across Jezero Crater on July 20, 2021, the 148th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Perseverance Views Dust Devils Swirling Across Jezero Crater
Made with data recorded by NASA’s Perseverance during a July 15 autonomous drive, this animation shows how the rover used AutoNav to maneuver around the 14-inch (35-centimeter) rock at center-left....
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Made with data recorded by NASA’s Perseverance during a July 15 autonomous drive, this animation shows how the rover used AutoNav to maneuver around the 14-inch (35-centimeter) rock at center-left. Blue and magenta lines emanating from the front of the rover indicate paths with potential hazards.
Perseverance AutoNav Avoids a Boulder
The Perseverance rover successfully collected its first Martian core samples that NASA and ESA (the European Space Agency) plan to return to Earth for further study.
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The Perseverance rover successfully collected its first Martian core samples that NASA and ESA (the European Space Agency) plan to return to Earth for further study.
NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Collects First Core Samples & Early Science (Media Briefing)
Perseverance’s first cored-rock sample is visible inside this titanium sample collection tube in this image taken on Sept. 6, 2021.
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Perseverance’s first cored-rock sample is visible inside this titanium sample collection tube in this image taken on Sept. 6, 2021.
Perseverance's First Cored Mars Rock in Sample Tube
NASA's spacecraft on Mars are all affected by the winds of the Red Planet, which can produce a tiny dust devil or a global dust storm. 
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NASA scientists explain their study of wind on Mars (NASA Mars Report June 22, 2022)
Mars Report: How Scientists Study Wind on Mars
This image shows a core, about 2.8 inches (71.1 millimeters) in length, collected from a basaltic rock during a test of the Perseverance rover’s Sampling and Caching System at NASA’s Jet Propulsion...
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Image of a rock core testing with the Sample Caching system.
Cored-Rock Sample From Perseverance Test
Christina Hernandez during the Mars Perseverance rover testing phase, in an area that includes three instruments she worked on: MEDA, RIMFAX, and PIXL.
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Christina Hernandez during the Mars Perseverance rover testing phase, in an area that includes three instruments she worked on: MEDA, RIMFAX, and PIXL.
During Mars Perseverance Rover Testing
Download a PDF of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Poster.
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Mars 2020 poster
Mars 2020 Perseverance Poster
Perseverance snapped this view of a hill called “Santa Cruz” on April 29, 2021. About 20 inches (50 centimeters) across on average, the boulders in the foreground are among the type of rocks the ro...
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Perseverance snapped this view of a hill called “Santa Cruz” on April 29, 2021. About 20 inches (50 centimeters) across on average, the boulders in the foreground are among the type of rocks the rover team has named “Ch’ał” (the Navajo term for “frog” and pronounced “chesh”). Perseverance will return to the area next week or so.
'Ch'ał'-Type Rocks at 'Santa Cruz'
In this illustration, NASA's Perseverance rover uses its Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) instrument to analyze a rock on the surface of Mars.
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Illustration of Perseverance rover using its Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) instrument to analyze a rock on the surface of Mars
PIXL Takes Aim at Rocks (Illustration)
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used one of its navigation cameras to take this panorama of a proposed landing site for the Mars Sample Return lander that would serve as part of the campaign to brin...
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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used one of its navigation cameras to take this panorama of a proposed landing site for the Mars Sample Return lander.
Perseverance's Panorama of Potential Mars Sample Return Landing Site
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history when it achieved the first powered, controlled flight on another planet on April 19, 2021.
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history when it achieved the first powered, controlled flight on another planet on April 19, 2021.
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Celebrates 50 Flights
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter successfully completed a fourth, more challenging flight on the Red Planet on April 30, 2021.
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter successfully completed a fourth, more challenging flight on the Red Planet on April 30, 2021.
Fourth Flight a Success for NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s was captured after landing on May 7, 2021, by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard the agency’s Perseverance rover. This was the helicopter’s fifth flight, and the first t...
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This was the helicopter’s fifth flight, and the first time the helicopter flew to a new landing site. It was airborne a total of 108 seconds.
Mastcam-Z Views Ingenuity After Fifth Flight
The nose cone containing NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is maneuvered into place atop its Atlas V rocket. The image was taken at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 7, 2020.
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The nose cone containing NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover
Maneuvering Perseverance
NASA’s Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars today by successfully launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a ULA Atlas V rocket. It now begins its seven-month journey to the ...
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Mars Launch Overview
NASA's Perseverance Rover Launches to Mars
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s fifth flight was captured on May 7, 2021, by one of the navigation cameras aboard the agency’s Perseverance rover. This was the first time it flew to a new landin...
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s fifth flight was captured on May 7, 2021, by one of the navigation cameras aboard the agency’s Perseverance rover. This was the first time it flew to a new landing site.
Ingenuity's Successful Fifth Flight

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