--- title: "NASA’s Mars Helicopter Just Unfurled Its Legs" description: "NASA's Mars Perseverance rover is getting ready to gently lower the agency's Ingenuity helicopter onto the Martian surface below it." date: "2021-03-31" modified: "2021-03-31" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasas-mars-helicopter-just-unfurled-its-legs" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "ingenuity" - "mars" - "mars helicopter" - "NASA" - "perseverance" - "the digest" --- # NASA’s Mars Helicopter Just Unfurled Its Legs ![NASA's Mars Perseverance rover is getting ready to gently lower the agency's Ingenuity helicopter onto the Martian surface below it.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Going Vertical NASA's Mars Perseverance rover is getting ready to gently lower the agency's Ingenuity helicopter onto the Martian surface below it. The four pound rotocopter is currently strapped to the rover's underbelly. But in a matter of days, Ingenuity will be placed on the surface to do what it was designed to do: attempt to fly on the surface of another planet. Images taken by the rover's WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and engineering) camera attached to the end of its long robotic arm show Ingenuity stretching its four spindly legs as it "[goes vertical]()." ## Special Delivery "Away goes the debris shield, and here’s our first look at the helicopter," the rover's official account [tweeted earlier this month](). "It’s stowed sideways, folded up and locked in place, so there’s some reverse origami to do before I can set it down. First though, I’ll be off to the designated 'helipad,' a couple days’ drive from here." As soon as April 8, [according to NASA](), Ingenuity may attempt to make its first test flight to a height of just a few feet. The team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have already [picked out a perfect place]() for it to do just that — a mostly flat plain just north of Perseverance's landing location. It's an exciting prospect. If successful, Ingenuity could pave an [entirely new way]() for us to explore the desolate surfaces of other planets. **READ MORE:** [NASA's Mars helicopter is slowly unfolding beneath the Perseverance rover]() \[*Space.com*\] **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]()