Ingenuity is getting faster and farther — watch

Ingenuity by Robin Bea Updated: Feb. 20, 2024 Originally Published: April 26, 2021

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made history when it became the first craft to complete a powered, guided flight on Mars . And that wasn’t the end of Ingenuity’s impressive feats. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

NASA/JPL-Caltech Within a week of its first flight, Ingenuity took to the sky two more times , and it’s getting better at it .

Here’s Ingenuity’s historic first flight. (We’re sure it looked better in person.)

For its second flight , Ingenuity went up to 16 feet — compared to the first flight’s 10 feet — and turned slightly. NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA/JPL-Caltech During that flight, Ingenuity also sent home new pictures from its color camera.

NASA/JPL-Caltech Ingenuity completed its third flight on April 25. NASA says it was the fastest and farthest the helicopter has even flown — including in tests on Earth.

Ingenuity flew 164 feet across the Martian surface and back to its starting point, reaching a top speed of 6.6 feet per second . NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

In NASA’s test chambers, filled with thin air to simulate Mars’ atmosphere , Ingenuity only had 1.6 feet to move in any direction. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Here’s the full third flight, as seen by the Perseverance rover.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

One more time, with a closer look at Ingenuity’s takeoff.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Back on Earth, NASA celebrated Ingenuity’s success.

NASA/JPL-Caltech With three historic flights logged , NASA is already planning for flight number four .

NASA/JPL-Caltech Read more stories on NASA here .

Ingenuity is getting faster and farther — watch

Here’s Ingenuity’s historic first flight. (We’re sure it looked better in person.)

Here’s the full third flight, as seen by the Perseverance rover.

One more time, with a closer look at Ingenuity’s takeoff.

Back on Earth, NASA celebrated Ingenuity’s success.

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head home for more!