Perseverance & Ingenuity

Perseverance is NASA's most advanced Mars rover, carrying 23 cameras, two microphones, and instruments that can analyze rock chemistry with lasers. Its primary mission is to collect and cache rock samples for future return to Earth — the first step in a planned Mars Sample Return campaign. But the real breakthrough was Ingenuity, a 1.8 kg helicopter that hitched a ride to Mars as a technology demonstration. Originally planned for 5 flights in 30 days, Ingenuity completed 72 flights over nearly 3 years, serving as an aerial scout for Perseverance. Ingenuity proved that aerial robots work on Mars — changing the future of planetary exploration.