Christian Elliott

Okay, is it helicopter time?

Yes, it is helicopter time.

We are going to talk about Ingenuity.

Ingenuity is this little four-pound robot helicopter.

It has two rotors, each four feet long, a solar panel, and four long landing legs.

It hitched a ride to Mars on board Perseverance.

And Ingenuity was a huge success, but it almost didn't happen.

Katie was a grad student when the science team proposed flying a helicopter on Mars.

Didn't work out at the time.

It seemed too risky and expensive.

But then, around when she became deputy project scientist, the engineering team revived the idea as a technology concept demonstration.

That's Hovard Griep.

He's an engineer at JPL on the Ingenuity helicopter team.

Now don't worry, we're coming back to Katie to hear about Perseverance's journey through Jezero Crater and all the science findings so far.

But first, we absolutely have to talk about ingenuity.

This little helicopter is an experimental aircraft.

A helicopter flight on Mars had never been attempted before.

So the team was hoping for a Wright brothers moment.

No, it's not a silly question at all.

I mean, I am no engineer.