Tucked beneath the solar array of a small helicopter on Mars is a postage-stamp-size piece of muslin from a wing of the Wright Flyer, a nod to the first successful demonstration of powered flight 117 years ago. The helicopter, named Ingenuity, will soon attempt the feat on Mars. About the size of a tissue box, Ingenuity stands on four carbon-composite landing legs, each 1.26 ft. Its four blades, arranged into two 4-ft.-long contrarotating rotors, are designed to spin at about 2,400 rpm to generate enough lift to fly in the thin Martian air. At ground level, Mars' atmosphere is approximately the same density as about 22 mi. above Earth's. NASA allotted 31 days for the helicopter flight test, a pioneering, high-risk technology demonstration accompanying the flagship mission of the Mars Perseverance rover, which made a parachute, retrorocket and sky-crane landing on Feb. 18. Perseverance will look for signs of past microbial life and cache samples for return to Earth.
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