NASA said Monday its small helicopter was confirmed to have flown in the thin atmosphere of Mars, becoming the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet.
The experimental flight, which the U.S. space agency likened to the historic moment the Wright brothers flew the world's first powered airplane over a century ago, took place as part of NASA's current Mars exploration mission.
The 1.8-kilogram rotorcraft named Ingenuity was ferried to Mars on a rover that landed there in February, with the intention of testing whether future exploration of the red planet could include "an aerial perspective," according to NASA.
Data showed the solar-powered helicopter, which is 49 centimeters tall, climbed to an altitude of 3 meters before maintaining a stable hover for 30 seconds.
It then descended, touching back down on the surface of Mars after logging a total of 39.1 seconds of flight. The flight demonstration was autonomous, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The extremely thin atmosphere of Mars as compared to Earth made it a challenge to build a rotorcraft capable of flight on the planet.
"Now, 117 years after the Wright brothers succeeded in making the first flight on our planet, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has succeeded in performing this amazing feat on another world," NASA associate administrator for science Thomas Zurbuchen said in a press release.