An artist's impression of NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity. The "marscopter" will land with the rover Feb. 18 and soon make its first flight, the first powered flight on another world.  (Image credit: NASA) 

In an effort to discover more about the Milky Way’s secrets, NASA has developed numerous rovers throughout the years. However, the newest model will be one of the strangest--it holds a small package that, once safely on Mars, will reveal a small helicopter-like drone. This drone is designed to be the first device on Mars to be safely controlled and flown. 

The drone features two strong helicopter rotors, both at 4 feet long. This is needed to counteract Mars’ difficult atmosphere and gravity; Mars’ pressure is about 1% of Earth’s atmospheric pressure, which makes flying on Mars very difficult. It’s also extremely cold on Mars- about -100 degrees Fahrenheit during the night and only 40 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. The engineers designed for the drone to keep itself warm; if done correctly, NASA will deem it a successful design.

The rover is scheduled to arrive on Mars’ surface by next week,February 18th , but the drone itself will not be in action for a while; at least until the drone finishes NASA’s surface checks and experiments. Once the rover finds an adequate location for the drone, it will gently drop the package onto the surface and allow for it to activate. 

Once successfully activated, the drone will fly on five different test flights, all of which are used to record data on the drone itself. If all goes smoothly, NASA plans to use its helicopter-drone for simple tasks: taking pictures of the surface and of whatever is in front of it.

The drone’s main purpose is to prove that the aerodynamics established on Earth will work on Mars. If proved, scientists will be able to create new vehicles in the future that can record more data on other planets. In layman’s terms: future Mars expeditions may include more of these space-helicopters. Perhaps they may be used to extract more data or even carry light packages from one area to another. The possibilities are endless if this drone proves to be successful.

by Nathan Park