Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has gifted an Ingenuity Mars helicopter prototype to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. This helicopter was first used in tests at JPL in a simulated Mars environment and was the first Ingenuity prototype to demonstrate that flight on Mars was possible.
Back in May of 2016, this prototype achieved the first powered, controlled free flight in simulated Mars atmospheric conditions inside JPL’s Space Simulator. This 25-foot-wide vacuum chamber was evacuated and then back-filled with a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere similar to that found on Mars. Things found on the actual production model that are missing on this prototype include a solar panel / battery, the main computer, and avionics.
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None of Ingenuity’s accomplishments would have been possible without years of development and testing, requiring prototypes and engineering and flight models to learn and better understand design challenges and work through solutions. We are excited to bring this crucial piece of this story into our collection,” said Matt Shindell, curator of planetary exploration at the National Air and Space Museum.
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