NASA's first-ever wheeled Mars explorer, Sojourner, was deployed from the Pathfinder lander in July 1997. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech An Alabama high school student named NASA's first Mars helicopter that will be deployed to the red planet later this summer. The helicopter will be first aircraft to perform flight tests on another planet. The helicopter will ride to Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover. “NASA has a proud history of firsts,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

NASA has let schoolkids name all of its Red Planet rovers to date. Vaneeza Rupani, a junior at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama, came up with the name and the motivation behind it during NASA's " Name the Rover " essay contest. High school student Vaneeza Rupani of Northport, Alabama, originally submitted the name Ingenuity for the Mars 2020 rover, before it was named Perseverance, but NASA officials recognized the submission as a terrific name for the helicopter, given how much creative thinking the team employed to get the mission off the ground. Launch Window: July 30 - Aug. 15, 2020: Launch Location: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida: Landing: Feb. 18, 2021: Landing Site: Jezero Crater, Mars: Length of Mission NASA’s Mars Helicopter gets an official name thanks to an Alabama high school student. Destined to become the first aircraft to attempt powered flight on another planet, NASA's Mars Helicopter officially has received a new name: Ingenuity. The first helicopter to fly on Mars had its first flight on Earth. It is riding with the agency's next mission to Mars (the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover) as it launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station later this summer. The Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will travel with the agency’s Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. Name: Ingenuity: Main Job: A technology demonstration to test the first powered flight on Mars. A naming tradition.

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will make history's first attempt at powered flight on another planet next spring. NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars. Ingenuity, the name …