Aviation Week Network Honors NASA’s Mars Helicopter Ingenuity With Laureate Award For Historic Flights On Red Planet

The Aviation Week Network has honored Ingenuity for its extraordinary achievements. Ingenuity is a mini helicopter. It is a Mars helicopter. NASA has designed Ingenuity. It is being designed specially to fly in the Martian atmosphere. Aviation Week Network, a media company, has honored the helicopter with the Laureate Award. The award has been given to the Mars helicopter for its remarkable achievements in aerospace. The award is considered prestigious in the aerospace industry. It is recognition of Ingenuity’s historic flights on Mars. The helicopter has performed multiple flights on the Red Planet since its arrival. It was launched in July 2020 by NASA along with the Perseverance rover. It was attached to the rover’s belly. The rover landed on the Martian surface in February this year.

According to NASA, Ingenuity weighs 1.8 kilograms. It has covered a distance of 1.60 kilometers. The helicopter performed the first flight on April 19. It has so far performed around 10 flights. This is the first time when scientists have managed a controlled flight on another planet. The Aviation Week Network in a statement said that Ingenuity has yielded results that scientists imagined. The helicopter demonstrates a new technology that will redefine the human approach to explore Mars and plan for future missions. Flying an object in the Martian atmosphere is full of challenges because of the thin atmosphere. Ingenuity was designed to fly up to five times initially in the first 30 days of the mission. However, the US space agency extended the mission as Ingenuity overcame all challenges.

NASA has said that it wants to test the helicopter’s limits. In the 10th flight in July, NASA sent Ingenuity to Raised Ridges. The helicopter scouted the region from above the surface. The helicopter’s ability to explore areas from above the surface can be useful in operating Perseverance and planning future missions. The agency is planning to send Perseverance to Raised Ridges to explore the area and look for possible signs of life. NASA said that Ingenuity is still in good health and can undertake many flights. The Aviation Week Network has been awarding the Laureate Awards for over 60 years. The award will be presented in October. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Demo-2 and Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicle have also received the honor.