In the simplest terms, a helicopter is able to fly by generating enough lift with its spinning rotors to offset its own weight, enabling the craft to take flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A key part of that ability is the general condition of the air in which the machine is trying to fly, with sea level flight involving much denser air than at higher altitudes. For helicopters, denser air is typically a good thing, making it far easier to get lift than in the atmospheric conditions found high above earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what if you wanted to fly a helicopter on another planet 200 million miles away?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You would turn to research done by Assistant Professor James Coder. Or at least that\u2019s what NASA did in preparing for its most recent mission to Mars, which included Ingenuity, a helicopter probe that has been used to explore the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n