Inside Ingenuity with AeroVironment Part II: Challenges Overcome

May 05, 2021

As of Friday, April 30 (local time), the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter had completed its fourth successful flight, exceeding expectations and moving from being a technical to an operational demonstrator. 

In Part One of “Inside Ingenuity with AeroVironment—Designing It,” key personnel from the company talked about designing and developing Ingenuity’s airframe and some of its major subsystems, including its rotor blades and hub and control mechanism hardware. They also discussed how AeroVironment worked with JPL, Lockheed Martin and others to integrate its work into a vehicle capable of reaching and operating on Mars.

Now, in Part Two—”Challenges Overcome”—the engineering team recalls surmounting obstacles so Ingenuity and its 4-foot rotor blades could master the ultra-thin atmosphere of the red planet.

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