There is so much I wanted to say about the little helicopter Ingenuity which became the first man-made object to fly (conduct a powered and controlled flight) on another planet in April 2021. I find it hard to believe that it was April 2021 but that’s just age affecting my memory.
Ginny, as the helicopter was nicknamed, was only intended to make five flights and ended up making 72. At the end of its 72nd flight on January 18, 2024, Ginny’s rotor blades were damaged while landing, and this damage caused NASA to ground the helicopter permanently. NASA announced the end of its mission one week later. According to Wikipedia Ingenuity had flown for a total of two hours, eight minutes and 48 seconds over 1,004 days, covering more than 11 miles.
I think it’s quite fair and fitting that various NASA and JPL staff made reference to the Wright Brothers in respect of Ingenuity’s flight. NASA named Ingenuity‘s first take-off and landing airstrip Wright Brothers Field, for which the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) allocated an airport code JZRO for Jezero Crater. I certainly felt it was a moment of historic interest. I didn’t realize until much later that a small piece cloth from the1903 Wright Flyer is attached to a cable underneath Ingenuity‘s solar panel. It was and is a fitting tribute. Neil Armstrong’s pieces of the Wright Flyer which accompanied him on Apollo 11 came back to earth, but a piece of the Flyer remains on some far-away sand dune.
