Taking Flight on Mars

NASA is targeting no earlier than Monday, April 19, for the first flight of its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at approximately 3:30 a.m. EDT.

Data from the first flight will return to Earth a few hours following the autonomous flight. A livestream will begin at 6:15 a.m. EDT, as the helicopter team prepares to receive the data downlink in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Watch on NASA Television, the agency app, website, and social media platforms, including YouTube and Facebook.

If the flight takes place April 19, a postflight briefing will be held at 2 p.m. EDT.

The public and media may ask questions on social media during the livestream and briefing using #MarsHelicopter.

Find the latest schedule updates at: https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/#Watch-Online

The original flight date of April 11 shifted as engineers worked on preflight checks and a solution to a command sequence issue. The Perseverance rover will provide support during flight operations by taking images, collecting environmental data, and hosting the base station that enables the helicopter to communicate with mission controllers on Earth.

Edited by Maryssa Gordon, Senior Editor, Price of Business Digital Network