¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 March 2 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Ingenuity: A Mini-Helicopter Now on Mars Illustration Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JPL-Caltech, [5]Mars 2020 - Perseverance Explanation: What if you could fly around Mars? NASA may have achieved that capability last month with the [6]landing of Perseverance, a rover which included a small flight-worthy companion called [7]Ingenuity, nicknamed Ginny. Even though Ginny is small -- a [8]toaster-sized helicopter with four long legs and two even-longer (1.2-meter) rotors, she is the first of [9]her kind -- there has never been anything like her before. After being deployed, possibly in April, the [10]car-sized Perseverance ("Percy") will back away to give Ginny ample room to attempt her [11]unprecedented first flight. In the [12]featured artistic illustration, Ginny's long rotors are depicted [13]giving her the [14]lift [15]she needs to fly into the [16]thin Martian atmosphere and explore the area near Perseverance. Although [17]Ingenuity herself will not fly very far, she is a prototype for all future airborne Solar-System robots that may fly far across not only [18]Mars, but [19]Titan. Tomorrow's picture: erupting earth __________________________________________________________________ [20]< | [21]Archive | [22]Submissions | [23]Index | [24]Search | [25]Calendar | [26]RSS | [27]Education | [28]About APOD | [29]Discuss | [30]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [31]Robert Nemiroff ([32]MTU) & [33]Jerry Bonnell ([34]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [35]Specific rights apply. [36]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [37]ASD at [38]NASA / [39]GSFC & [40]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2103/Helicopter_Mars2020_3811.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/https//www.jpl.nasa.gov/ 5. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210223.html 7. https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/ 8. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/6-things-to-know-about-nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter 9. https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25043/mars-ingenuity-helicopter-3d-model/ 10. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-mars-perseverance-rover-gets-its-sample-handling-system 11. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2021/02/23/nasas-ingenuity-first-aircraft-fly-mars/ 12. https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25116/a-mars-rover-and-a-mars-flyer-artists-concept/ 13. https://mars.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/movies/MarsHelicopterTrailer/MarsHelicopterTrailer-640.mp4 14. https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-a-helicopter-58.html 15. https://mars.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/movies/MarsHelicopterTrailer/MarsHelicopterTrailer-640.mp4 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingenuity_(helicopter)#/media/File:Anatomy_of_the_Mars_Helicopter.png 18. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/ 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190703.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210301.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 29. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210302 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210303.html 31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 33. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 34. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 36. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 37. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 40. http://www.mtu.edu/