The team behind NASA’s brave Ingenuity helicopter has received another award for the plane’s groundbreaking achievements on Mars.
The helicopter made history in April 2021 when it became the first aircraft to achieve controlled powered flight on another planet.
In recognition of their success, the National Aeronautic Association presented NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team with the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy at a ceremony in Washington, DC on June 9th. JPL tweeted several photos from the event:
yesterday that #MarsHelicopter Team accepted the prestigious Collier Trophy, awarded by the National Aeronautic Association for the greatest aerospace achievement in America.
Please help us congratulate the Ingenuity team! 👏 pic.twitter.com/rEM5Uh1XQC
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) June 10, 2022
The trophy is presented each year for “the greatest aerospace achievement in America in improving the performance, efficiency and safety of an air or spacecraft.”
Commenting on the award, Teddy Tzanetos, JPL’s team leader for the helicopter, said: said: “Almost every step we took on this journey broke new ground, and many didn’t believe we would even make it to the air.”
Tzanetos added: “Now thinking back to how I nervously waited to see if our first outing would be a success, it’s incredible to be where we are today. The Collier Trophy is such an honor and I am so proud of everyone who worked so hard to make this vision a reality.”
After its maiden flight on the Red Planet more than a year ago, Ingenuity was scheduled to make just four more flights as part of a technology demonstration. But it worked so well on its first few missions that the team has continued to work and have logged 28 flights to date.
The Ingenuity Helicopter is 19.3 inches (49 cm) tall and weighs 4 pounds (2 kg). His longest single flight to date is 709 meters (2,325 feet), achieving a record speed of 19.8 km/h (12.3 mph) on the same mission.
To the team’s delight, Ingenuity was able to assist the team overseeing NASA’s ground-based Perseverance rover, using its onboard camera to conduct reconnaissance flights over areas of interest and verifying the safest routes for the rover over the rocky surface of Mars.
The Robert J. Collier Trophy was established more than a century ago to recognize significant achievements in the field of aviation. Past honorees include Orville Wright in 1913 for the development of the automatic stabilizer, Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager for his X-1 rocket plane mission in 1947, which marked the first manned flight to break the sound barrier, and the astronauts NASA’s Apollo travels to the moon five decades ago.
And it’s not the first award that’s gone to the Ingenuity team either. The growing list of awards includes recognition from the Space Foundation for achievements in space exploration and a Vertical Flight Society award for “outstanding advances in fundamental helicopter technology.”
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