https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ingenuitys-wright-stuff-a-piece-of-the-wright-flyer-will-soar-on-mars/ > When NASA’s latest Mars-roving robot, Perseverance, landed on the Red Planet in February, its cargo included a long virtual list of “firsts.” Perseverance was the first ever spacecraft to perform an entirely autonomous ultraprecise landing on another planet. In coming months it will also be the first to attempt to produce pure oxygen from the world’s thin carbon-dioxide atmosphere via its experimental MOXIE instrument. And before the conclusion of Perseverance’s mission, it will be the first to gather Martian samples for eventual return to Earth, potentially also making it the first mission to uncover signs of life beyond Earth. But the rover’s most spectacular first may occur next week, when it is expected to deploy a small, four-pound parcel from its underbelly. > That parcel is a solar-powered helicopter, called Ingenuity, that will attempt to take flight on Mars as early as April 8. If successful, it could serve as a modest airborne scout for Perseverance’s ongoing peregrinations and, in the process, become the first powered aircraft to ever operate on another planet and pave the way for future interplanetary missions to fly the not-so-friendly skies of worlds beyond.