Inspiration can sometimes come in small packages like Ingenuity Helicopter on Mars. I wrote previously about Mars colonization and the challenges in bringing building materials to the red planet. Construction is just one of the many issues we will face. In an age of social unrest on Earth, can we even think about the future? Is it vital never to lose sight of it?
There is a Greek proverb: “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they will never sit.” As this timeless piece of wisdom shows us, selflessness carries its own reward when we think as a people regarding the future. In my ‘to-be launched’ web serial, Hindsight Station, such foresight is a key trait in our protagonist, James Fong.
Ingenuity Helicopter: From the Wright Brothers to NASA
When the Perseverance rover landed on Mars on February 18th, 2021, it had a four-pound chopper attached to its belly. Ingenuity helicopter’s mission was to prove that air travel was possible on the red planet. Mars has one percent of Earth’s atmosphere and thirty-eight percent of its gravitational strength. Ingenuity helicopter, or ‘marscopter’ had to fly.
Approximately four feet long, the propellers far exceeded its tiny body when compared to a similar-sized aircraft on Earth. The lift requirements for Ingenuity helicopter requires more blade rotations per minute in far lighter air. As the Wright Brothers pioneered air flight on Earth, NASA continued their legacy with the very first Mars flight.
Mars Flight: Ingenuity Helicopter Cleared for Takeoff
On April 19th, 2021, Ingenuity helicopter made its maiden voyage into Martian airspace. This groundbreaking event received little media acclaim despite President Biden of the United States making a personal appearance to inspect a model of the tiny aircraft. Its mission on Mars was to prove we could fly. On that special day, Ingenuity helicopter flew up to ten feet above the Martian surface in a forty-second flight.
From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows, available at your favorite digital bookstore
The thirty-day mission of tiny helicopter was just a proof of concept, as the Perseverance rover had its own science mission to perform on the red planet. From that day, humanity had aircraft on another planet, sowing the seeds of our future. By its fifth mission on May 7th, 2021, Ingenuity helicopter created a new flight record on Mars, with a southerly flight of four hundred and twenty-three feet, at an altitude of thirty-three feet.
Future Seeds Already Sown
Our first ‘marscopter’, codenamed ‘Ingenuity’, completed its thirty-day mission with such success NASA delivered another thirty days of flight operations for the tiny aircraft.
This time, Ingenuity helicopter did not have any support from the Perseverance rover. It was on its own, with lithium-ion batteries harvesting solar power from its onboard solar array to stay warm at night, and fly by day. With its rotor blades at two thousand four hundred rotations per minute, it was, unaided, taking pictures for NASA.
Dark Times and the Dawn
As James Fong in my science fiction web serial ‘Hindsight Station’, understood the need for foresight and good planning–NASA did the same thing, and made history on two planets. In troubled times such as these, we can still sow the seeds of a lasting future.
How we behave towards each other as tensions rise must not release us from our obligations to our children’s children. James Fong understood this in a fictitious world where nuclear war resulted from unchecked power at any cost. Yet, he did not relent in sowing the seeds of a better future. In the real world, neither should we.
About the Author
As I move onto my next authoring project, I will post less frequently on the real-world issues linked to my novel, From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows. My next project, Hindsight Station, will initially be a progression science fiction, web-novel delivered via Patreon and eventually another web serial platform.
John is a versatile author known for his gripping fiction narratives in the thriller, action, and science fiction genres. With a background as a journalist since 2016, and expertise in cloud technologies as an engineer; John brings a unique blend of storytelling prowess and technical acumen to his work.
