Why the Ingenuity helicopter’s flight on Mars is such a big deal

Yesterday at 9pm Australian Eastern standard time, the Ingenuity helicopter — which landed on Mars with the Perseverance rover in February — took off from the Martian surface. More importantly, it hovered for about 30 seconds, three metres above the surface and came right back down again. It may not sound like a huge feat, but it is. Ingenuity’s flight is the first powered flight of an aircraft on another planet. It marks a milestone in the story of human space exploration. While the Apollo 11 spacecraft famously touched down on the Moon, upon re-launch it simply had to exit…

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