On April 30, 2020,A 17-year old Indian-origin girl Vaneeza Rupani has named the 1st helicopter to be built for Mars as ‘Ingenuity’ (in Hindi it means the inventive character of a person). She received this credit when she submitted her essay in NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) ‘Name the Rover’ competition.
Before this new name, It was just named as “Mars Helicopter”.
i.Along with Rupani , a total of 28, 000 students from each state and territory of the US (United States) participated in this competition.
ii.NASA in March 2020 announced that its next rover would be named ‘Perseverance’, based on an essay by seventh-grade student Alexander Mather. The agency had also decided to name the helicopter that goes with the rover on Mars.
iii.Both the ‘Ingenuity’ & ‘Perseverance’ are scheduled to launch in July 2020 and will land in February 2021 in the Jezero Crater of Mars, the site of a lake that existed 3.5 billion years ago.
iv.The rover will collect samples of Red Planet Mars, the helicopter (1.8 kilograms) will try to fly there and give information about the geographical location of Mars. if all goes well, NASA will add aerial dimensions to future Mars exploration missions.
About NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration):
Headquarters– Washington, D.C., United States
Administrator– Jim Bridenstine
