---
title: "Enhance! Spacecraft Spots NASA’s Mars Helicopter All the Way From Orbit"
description: "Enhance! NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted the agency's tiny four pound Ingenuity Mars helicopter from orbit — an impressive feat."
date: "2022-04-01"
modified: "2022-04-01"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacecraft-spots-nasa-mars-helicopter"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Mars"
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "ingenuity"
  - "mars"
  - "mars reconnaissance orbiter"
  - "NASA"
  - "the digest"
---

# Enhance! Spacecraft Spots NASA’s Mars Helicopter All the Way From Orbit

![Enhance! NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted the agency's tiny four pound Ingenuity Mars helicopter from orbit — an impressive feat.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/spacecraft-spots-nasa-mars-helicopter.png>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Copter Spotting

Enhance! NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter [has spotted](<https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_073068_1985>) the agency's tiny Ingenuity Mars helicopter from orbit — an impressive feat, considering the drone weighs just four pounds, with its rotors measuring just four feet across.

The orbiter used its HiRise camera, a massive and powerful instruments that can take images of up to 28 gigabits in size [in just six seconds](<https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/mission/instruments/hirise/>).

Ingenuity has been scanning the surface for just shy of a year now, successfully [completing 23 flights](<https://www.pcmag.com/news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-completes-23rd-flight>) in that time. That's far more than [the five flights](<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mars-helicopter-ingenuity-soars-on-22nd-red-planet-flight/>) the Ingenuity team were initially hoping to complete.

During its latest flight last week, it [flew for just over two minutes](<https://www.pcmag.com/news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-completes-23rd-flight>), covering over 1,100 feet.

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ESP_073068_1985-1200x476.jpg>)

## Saying Hi

As of right now, Ingenuity is perched on the fractured bedrock of the Máaz Formation, which scientists believe to be of volcanic origin.

"HiRISE is likely to image Perseverance again during its long traverse," the [HiRise team's update](<https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_073068_1985>) reads.

Alongside its much bigger rover companion Perseverance, Ingenuity is currently making its way to a delta region within the Jezero Crater, which is what scientists believe to be a promising place to look for signs of ancient life.

**READ MORE:** [Amazing: NASA Spots Little Mars Helicopter From Orbit](<https://www.cnet.com/science/space/amazing-nasa-spots-little-mars-helicopter-from-orbit/>) \[*CNET*\]

## 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](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)