--- title: "NASA Hid a Small Piece of the Wright Brothers’ Airplane in Its Mars Helicopter" description: "To celebrate the occasion, NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter is stashing a small piece of fabric from the famous Wright aircraft under its solar panel." date: "2021-03-24" modified: "2021-03-24" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-hid-piece-wright-brothers-airplane-mars-helicopter" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "ingenuity" - "mars" - "NASA" - "perseverance" - "the digest" --- # NASA Hid a Small Piece of the Wright Brothers’ Airplane in Its Mars Helicopter ![To celebrate the occasion, NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter is stashing a small piece of fabric from the famous Wright aircraft under its solar panel.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## First Flight In a matter of weeks, NASA will attempt a historic first by directing a small helicopter to take flight on another planet. Ingenuity, a four-pound helicopter, is tucked under the belly of the agency's Perseverance rover on Mars. And it's getting ready for its big moment. As soon as April 8, Ingenuity will attempt to fly to an altitude of three meters. To celebrate the momentous occasion, NASA stashed a stamp-sized piece of fabric from the famous Wright aircraft under Ingenuity's solar panel, as the helicopter's chief engineer Bob Balaram [revealed during a Tuesday briefing](). ## Kitty Hawk Orville Wright became the first to fly a powered aircraft back in 1903 in their Wright Flyer, an experimental airplane made out of spruce wood and powered by a 180 pound engine. Now, a small piece of the unbleached muslin fabric that was stretched over its frame resides on Mars. In fact, a different piece of fabric and wood from the craft made it to the surface of the Moon, courtesy of Apollo 11's landing in July 1969. Perseverance will soon drop Ingenuity on the rocky surface of Mars and clear some ground to make sure the helicopter has plenty of room. Many challenges lay ahead for the small aircraft. "While getting deployed to the surface will be a big challenge, surviving that first night on Mars alone, without the rover protecting it and keeping it powered, will be an even bigger one," Balaram said on Tuesday. **READ MORE:** [NASA helicopter took a piece of the Wright Brothers' plane to Mars]() \[*CNET*\] **More on Ingenuity:** [*NASA Chooses “Airfield” Location for Mars Helicopter*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()