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EchoNaut
The small Ingenuity helicopter with its two long rotor blades, standing on rocky Martian ground.

Landed: 18 February 2021Status: Not working any more

Ingenuity Mars helicopter

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Spot on Mars:Valinor Hills, Jezero crater

Ingenuity rode to Mars strapped beneath the Perseverance rover. On 19 April 2021 it made the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. It went on to make 72 flights, scouting places for Perseverance to explore.

Flat map of Mars with a marker at the Valinor Hills, Jezero crater site, 18.50° N, 77.32° E.
Valinor Hills, Jezero crater18.50° N, 77.32° EA flat map of the whole of Mars, like a world map of Earth. The dot marks where Ingenuity Mars helicopter can be found.

The big map

Where Ingenuity Mars helicopter can be found on Mars

This is the whole of Mars, unrolled flat like a world map of Earth. The left and right edges are really the same line on the round planet. The lines are the coordinates , every 30°. Drag the map to look around, pick a spot, then follow its dashed lines to the numbers on the edges.

Where the mission ended

Flat map of Mars with 1 numbered spot, listed below the map.

The story

Why did it go?

To find out whether anything could fly in the very thin air of Mars. It was a test, designed for no more than five flights in 30 days.

Ingenuity rode to Mars strapped beneath the Perseverance rover. On 19 April 2021 it made the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. It went on to make 72 flights, scouting places for Perseverance to explore.

The Perseverance rover in a test chamber, with the tiny Ingenuity helicopter between its wheels.(opens larger view)

A test on Earth: Ingenuity tucked under Perseverance, between its wheels.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

By the numbers

The mission in numbers

launch year
2020
from arrival to the end of the mission
1,071 days
mass
1.8 kg
type of mission
Robotic
objects listed as left behind
1

Timeline

The journey, step by step

  1. 30 July 2020

    Launch

  2. 18 February 2021

    Landing

  3. 25 January 2024

    Mission ends

Still there today

What did it leave behind?

  • Status: Not working any more

    Ingenuity helicopter

    After its 72nd flight on 18 January 2024, one or more of its rotor blades were damaged and it could no longer fly.

In pictures

Take a closer look

Science legacy

What did we learn?

It proved that aircraft can fly on Mars and can help a rover choose where to go. In total it flew for 128.8 minutes and covered 17 km.

Mars seen from the air, with Ingenuity's shadow on the ground and the rover's tracks.(opens larger view)

The first colour photo of Mars taken from the air, on Ingenuity's second flight.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Did you know?

NASA called its first flight a "Wright Brothers moment".

Sources and fact-check