The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) has announced that it would continue to operate its uncrewed Ingenuity helicopter on Mars up to and into September. Ingenuity is the first aircraft to operate on a world other than Earth. Because of the distance between Earth and Mars, Ingenuity cannot be remote-controlled and functions autonomously. Intended originally as a pure technology demonstrator, simply meant to establish whether controlled flight was possible in the very thin Martian atmosphere, Ingenuity has become a most valuable reconnaissance and survey asset for the Perseverance rover, which carried the tiny aircraft to Mars. Perseverance also acts as the radio relay station for communications between the helicopter and its mission team on Earth.
