The Ingenuity helicopter recently took its first flight on Mars, marking a historical moment for humans. Mankind’s ability to fly a rover on another world has called for celebration across our planet, and Google also decided to do its part. The Google Search page for the Ingenuity copter now gets an Easter Egg, which when activated, lets you relive this historical moment on your PC or smartphone.
If you Google “Ingenuity Mars” right now, the page will show a small widget alongside an animated image of the Martian helicopter. Click on this image and you will witness little Ingenuity taking off and flying across your screen. To add to the effect, the bottom half of the page brings up the Martian landscape. You can check it out from here.
Google celebrates Ingenuity’s first flight
Along with the Easter Egg, Google also put out a congratulatory message on Twitter to MASA and the Ingenuity team. “Ten vertical feet for a helicopter, one giant leap for space exploration. Congrats @NASA #MarsHelicopter on an amazing first flight!,” wrote Google.
NASA Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen marked Ingenuity’s flight to be as iconic as the moment when the Wright Brothers flew their first airplane back in 1903. “While these two iconic moments in aviation history may be separated by time and 173 million miles of space, they now will forever be linked,” he said.
“As a homage to the two innovative bicycle makers from Dayton, this first of many airfields on other worlds will now be known as Wright Brothers Field, in recognition of the ingenuity and innovation that continue to propel exploration,” Zurbuchen added.
The Ingenuity helicopter was deployed by the Perseverance rover that touched down on Mars a few months ago. Perseverance is deployed to find signs of life on the Martian soil and collect samples. This is part of an iconic mission to bring back Martian samples to Earth via future space projects.
No comments:
Post a Comment