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On July 24, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter successfully completed its 10th and most daring flight on the red planet — a major milestone for the Ingenuity mission.

Ingenuity landed on Mars on February 18, 2021 attached to the underside of the Perseverance rover and protected by a debris shield.

Overcoming a command sequence issue, Ingenuity performed the first powered flight of any aircraft on another planet on April 19, 2021.

Flight 1, a demonstration hop, consisted of a simple vertical takeoff, an ascent to three meters, a stable hover for 30 seconds, a 90-degree turn, and a descent back to the surface.

Ingenuity’s teams began preparing for the second flight, and just three days after the first flight, the helicopter successfully performed its second

Flight 2 consisted of a vertical takeoff, an ascent to five meters, a hover, a sideways divert of two meters to the east, a 276 degree counterclockwise turn, a divert maneuver two meters to the west, and a descent

The flight lasted 51.9 seconds, and Ingenuity traveled at a speed of 0.5 m/s

Flight 3 was performed on April 25 and consisted of a vertical ascent to five meters, a hover, a northward divert of 50 meters, a hover, a southward divert of 50 meters, a hover, and a descent

The flight lasted 80.3 seconds with Ingenuity traveling at 2 m/s over a total distance of 100 meters

Flight 4 eventually consisted of a takeoff, an ascent to five meters, a hover, a southward divert of 133 meters, a hover, a northward divert of 133 meters, a hover, and a descent

Ingenuity traveled 266 meters roundtrip at a top speed of 3.5 m/s over 117 seconds

On May 7, Ingenuity successfully performed this flight with a 110 second travel time and a maximum velocity of 2 m/s across 129 meters distance while maintaining 10 meters altitude above the local terrain

Flight 6 on May 23 began an operations demonstration phase, with a flight sequence consisting of a takeoff, an ascent to 10 meters, a southwest divert of 150 meters, a southerly translation of 15 meters for color imagery collection, a northeastern divert of 50 meters, a descent, and a landing in a new area known as “Airfield C”

The first southwesterly divert was performed as planned, but approximately 54 seconds into flight, the vehicle began rapidly changing velocity and became somewhat unstable as well. 

Flight 7 consisted of a takeoff, an ascent to 10 meters, a 106 meter divert to the south, a descent, and a landing in a new location, Airfield D

Two weeks after Flight 7, Ingenuity successfully performed its eighth flight on June 22

The flight, which lasted 78 seconds, consisted of a takeoff from Airfield D, an ascent to 10 meters, a divert of 160 meters to the southeast, a descent, and a landing

The helicopter, which had only traveled 266 meters in a single flight, was set to travel 625 meters southwest across the Séítah area

The flight consisted of a takeoff from Airfield E, ascent to 10 meters, a southwesterly divert of 625 meters in which a maximum velocity of 5 m/s was recorded, a descent, and a landing

Ingenuity successfully completed the prolonged flight on July 5, and although it landed slightly short of its intended touchdown location, it managed, with this flight, to exceed the total distance the Perseverance rover itself had travel across the Martian terrain since landing

At the completion of Flight 9, Ingenuity had an odometer reading of just over 1,600 meters, just slightly edging out Perseverance

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) July 25, 2021

Flight 10 occurred on July 24 and consisted of a takeoff, an ascent to 12 meters (a new Mars altitude record), a 50 meter divert to the southwest, a sideways translation to the west, a northwesterly divert, a divert to the northeast, a descent, and a landing in a new airfield

Ingenuity successfully performed the flight, visiting all 10 expected waypoints. 

— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) July 21, 2021

The sample tubes collected by the Sample Fetch Rover will be returned to Earth via a Northrop Grumman-built Mars Ascent Vehicle (a solid motor rocket that will be launched with the Sample Fetch Rover) which will meet a ESA-provided Earth Return Orbiter and capsule in Martian orbit

The ESA Earth Return Orbiter, the third of the three Mars Sample Return flights, is slated to launch in October 2026 on an Ariane 6 rocket from French Guiana three months after the Mars Ascent Vehicle and Sample Fetch Rover are scheduled to be launched from the United States