NASA’s daring helicopter on Mars is appropriately named Ingenio, thanks to a teenager

NASA’s Perseverance rover won’t be the only machine to go to Mars when it launches mid-year. It will carry the newly named Ingenuity Mars helicopter along with it.

The space agency announced the name choice on Wednesday. “Our Mars helicopter will attempt the first powered flight in another world. I am proud to call it Ingenio.” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted.

NASA chose Ingenio among the entries for the Rover essay contest name that gave Perseverance its nickname. Alabama high school student Vaneeza Rupani wrote the presentation, saying, “The ingenuity and brilliance of people who work hard to overcome the challenges of interplanetary travel are what allow us all to experience the wonders of space exploration. ”

The helicopter is considered a demonstration of high-risk, high-reward technology. He sits in the belly of the scout vehicle and will travel Perseverance on Mars for a few months before deployment. NASA hopes that Ingenuity will demonstrate that a powered flight on Mars can be achieved.

“Along with investigating hard-to-reach targets such as cliffs, caves, and deep craters, future aircraft could carry small scientific instruments or act as explorers for human and robotic explorers on Mars or other celestial bodies,” NASA said.

Perseverance is slated to go to Mars in July or August this year. If everything goes smoothly, it will arrive in February 2021, and we will be one step closer to flying on another planet.

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