Flying a Helicopter on Mars: How Ingenuity's Flights were Planned, Executed, and Analyzed
Håvard Fjær Grip, Dylan Conway, Johnny Lam, N. R. Williams, M. P. Golombek, Roland Brockers, M. A. Mischna, Martin R. Cacan
Abstract
In April 2021, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took off from the surface of Mars as the first heavier-than-air, the first controlled, and the first powered aircraft to fly outside of Earth's atmosphere. As of January 2022, Ingenuity is still operational, having performed another 17 flights and having traversed a distance of 3.8 km, far surpassing the original goals of the mission. This paper focuses on the control of Ingenuity's flights from an operational perspective, including the search and selection of safe areas for takeoff and landing; the challenges of planning and executing flights between these areas; the influence of environmental parameters such as terrain, atmospheric den-sity, and wind; and the gradual expansion of the flight envelope informed by analysis of the helicopter's aerodynamic and flight control performance.