5 things to know about the Ingenuity, NASA’s Mars helicopter

History is set to be made on Mars today.

NASA is going to attempt to fly its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter today, a feat with a high degree of difficulty. The helicopter is a companion to the Perseverance rover that landed earlier this year, and is one of the most important parts of the current mission.

Here’s everything you need to know about this historic moment.

1. This is the first powered, controlled flight on another planet in history

The 1.8kg feat of modern science is set to rise to three metres above the surface of the Red Planet, hover for 30 seconds, and then rotate. It’s an experimental flight test, seeing what is possible from 173 million miles from Earth all the way to the Jezero Crater in the Martian basin.

2. This is going to be really, really hard

Ok let’s talk about why success is not a foregone conclusion. Mars has beyond bone-chilling temperatures, reaching minus 90 degrees Celsius at night in the crater. This is at the very limits of some of the parts of the Ingenuity.

While there were tests on earth that predicted success, you never know until you try it for sure. The freezing cold nights will be the biggest test for the little guy.

Mars has a rarefied atmosphere, which means it’s around 1 percent of the density of our atmosphere on Earth. Because of this Ingenuity is designed to be light, with rotor blades that are much larger and spin much faster than what would be required for a helicopter of Ingenuity’s mass on Earth. The gravity there is only about one-third that of Earth’s. That means slightly more mass can be lifted at a given spin rate. This will help the Ingenuity tremendously.

3. The Ingenuity relies upon the Perseverance spacecraft

Ingenuity was nestled up sideways under the belly of the Perseverance rover, with a cover to protect it from the debris kicked up during landing. Both the rover and the helicopter were together inside a clamshell-like entry capsule during the 471-million-kilometer journey to Mars.

To reach the Martian surface, Ingenuity rode along on Perseverance’s entry, descent, and landing system, which features a supersonic parachute.

Only about 50 percent of the attempts to land on Mars by any space agency, have been successful, so it needed all the help it could get.

The rover dropped the helicopter on the ground when it found a suitable site, and will also assist in communicating back and forth from earth. The rover will also take pictures of the ingenuity, like a good buddy should.

4. Ingenuity is pretty smart on its own

Because of the delays in communicating with spacecraft across interplanetary distances, the helicopter’s flight controllers won’t be able to control the helicopter with a joystick or to look at engineering data or images from each flight until well after the flight takes place.

Because of that, Ingenuity will make some of its own decisions, based on parameters set by its engineers on Earth. Ingenuity has a kind of programmable thermostat, for instance, that will keep it warm on Mars. During flight, Ingenuity will analyze sensor data and images of the terrain to ensure it stays on the flight path programmed by project engineers.

5. If the Ingenuity succeeds, Mars exploration will never be the same

Ingenuity is made to demonstrate technologies that are needed for flying in the Martian atmosphere. If it works, that tech could enable other advanced robotic flying vehicles that might be part of future robotic and even human missions to Mars.

Possible uses of a future helicopter on Mars include offering a unique viewpoint not provided by current orbiters high overhead, or by rovers and landers on the ground; high-definition images and reconnaissance for robots or humans; and access to terrain that is difficult for rovers to reach. A future helicopter could even help carry light but vital payloads from one site to another. This is a pretty big deal.