An illustration of NASA’s Perseverance rover landing safely on Mars. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land safely on Feb.
18, 2021. (Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Ingenuity, NASA's miniature Mars helicopter, is nearly ready to make history with the first powered flight on another planet.The team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced Friday that it had completed final reviews of systems integrating the copter with the Perserverance rover.JPL lead engineers Farah Alibay and Timothy Canham said they were readying for the historic mission. "Yes, we are definitely very excited," Canham said in an update. "Right now, the helicopter is still attached to the rover.