"When my 2 year old son lisped with a cherubic grin saying I'll fly to the moon in a helicopter, when asked what does he want to do when he grows up, I brushed away the idea thinking it's just another wild imagination of this dreamy boy that he has thought aloud. Little did I know that within a year's time NASA would be preparing its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter for its first powered, controlled, flight on another planet, if not to the moon.
It is indeed incredible to know that the perseverence rover that has Ingenuity attached to its belly, now protected in a case to prepare it for a safe landing, is currently in the airfield where Ingenuity is carefully being deployed to fly on its own like a fledgling. However, we would have to hold our breath for atleast a week and a half more for that to be a reality.
It's still a utopian fantasy considering the subdued solar energy that the surface receives and the fahrenheital drop that the Martian surface withstands as it can result in dysfunctional components due to a freeze or a crack. However, if successful, it would be that technological marvel that would expand our horizons and empower us for powered flights into another world!
This idea germinated 6 years ago and is almost on the verge of culmination.
Though the 30-Martian day experiment is unlikely to begin before April 11th, I am counting every second like a thirsty traveler who craves water in an arid desert. Good Luck Ingenuity. Fly high!"
P.S. This piece has been written by me purely due to my interest in the subject, collating together various bits of news from NASA. Thoughts and views are completely personal and bear no resemblance or correlation to any other entity.
