NASA’s Perseverance rover nailed its extraordinary landing on Mars on Thursday, February 18, surviving the nail-biting “seven minutes of terror” prior to touchdown.
About the size of a small car, the six-wheel rover is NASA’s most advanced to date. Once it’s undergone a self-administered health check to ensure all of its systems are in proper working order, Perseverance will set about exploring the Martian surface for signs of ancient life, among other tasks.
But it’s also carrying with it another vehicle that many space fans are keen to see in action.
Ingenuity is a diminutive helicopter-like machine that is set to become the first aircraft to fly on another planet.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is overseeing the Mars mission, is planning for Perseverance to deploy Ingenuity to the surface of the planet between 60 and 90 Martian days from now. That means Ingenuity should be in place and ready to take its first flight sometime between April 19 and May 19, 2021.
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