Ingenuity Gets an Upgrade on Mars

Dr. Tanya Harrison
3 min readMay 1, 2021

The tiny 4-pound (1.8 kg) helicopter that hitched a ride to Mars with NASA’s Perseverance rover just got a mission upgrade. Initially planned as a “technology demonstration” to prove whether or not powered flight was possible in the thin martian atmosphere, Ingenuity surpassed all expectations on the—at the time of writing—four flights…

Dr. Tanya Harrison

Professional Martian. Geoscientist. Former operations team member for Opportunity, Curiosity, & the Mars Recon. Orbiter. Views = my own.