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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nSince 1911, the Collier Trophy has been awarded annually for\n\u201c\u201c\u2026 the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect\nto improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles,\nthe value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the\npreceding year.\u201d The list of Collier recipients represents a timeline of air\nand space achievements, marking major milestones in the history of flight. The\n525-pound bronze trophy is on permanent display at the Smithsonian\u2019s National\nAir and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“While NASA\u2019s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team expanded\nthe flight envelope by 100-million miles, we know we didn\u2019t do it alone,\u201d said\nLarry James, Interim-Director of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern\nCalifornia. \u201cFor it was the efforts and ingenuity of those women and men who\ndeveloped and tested cutting-edge vehicles before us that helped make\npowered-controlled flight on another planet possible. That our Mars Helicopter\nname will now appear on this iconic trophy alongside so many of these air and\nspace giants is an honor, and fuels us to continue exploring the skies over the\nRed Planet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One hundred and seventeen years after the Wright brothers\nsucceeded in making the first powered flight on our planet, the Ingenuity Mars\nHelicopter performed this amazing feat on another world. On April 19, 2021,\nIngenuity lifted off from the surface of Mars, climbed to the prescribed\naltitude of 10 feet, and maintained a stable hover for 30 seconds. It then\ndescended, touching back down on the surface of Mars after logging a total of\n39.1 seconds of flight, thereby becoming the first aircraft in history to make\na powered-controlled flight on another planet. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since its first flight, Ingenuity has accomplished all of\nits technology demonstration goals and successfully transitioned into service\nas a science scout for the Perseverance rover, investigating promising science\ntargets and safe routes of travel for its companion and demonstrating the\nefficiency and safety benefits of the first multi-robot explorers on another\nplanet. The helicopter\u2019s color camera has also been used to collect\nhigh-definition imagery to assist the science team in identification and\nassessment of intriguing, and in some cases previously unknown, geologic\nfeatures. To date, the mission\u2019s official logbook has entries for 24 flights\nand a cumulative flight time of over 43 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team displayed exceptional\ncreativity, perseverance, and dedication to advancing the state of the art in\naeronautics and astronautics. The helicopter\u2019s flight dynamics and controls\nwere invented from first principles due to the thin atmosphere on Mars and an\nentirely new kind of test program had to be developed from scratch. The result\n\u2013 a solar powered, counter-rotating, propeller-driven planetary aircraft that\nstands 22 inches tall, weighs just 4 pounds, and meets the stringent\nrequirements of both spacecraft and aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI recently travelled to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and was\nin awe to be able to stand where the Wrights achieved the first flight on our\nplanet,\u201d said Bob Balaram, Chief Engineer emeritus and innovator of the Mars\nhelicopter design. \u201cIt is my hope that, some day, when people travel to Mars\u2019\nJezero Crater that they consider visiting where the first flight on that world\noccurred!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simultaneously honoring the past and inspiring the future of\naviation and space, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter carries a small swatch from\nthe left wing of the first Wright Flyer with it into the Martian skies on every\nflight. Ingenuity\u2019s success will make possible a new generation of solar system\nexplorers that will scout the unpaved Martian road ahead, keeping human\nvoyagers safe and informing our world of future discoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe challenges of autonomously flying a helicopter in the\natmosphere of Mars cannot be overstated,\u201d expressed NAA Chairman, Jim Albaugh.\n\u201cThis accomplishment truly warrants and has earned this year\u2019s Collier Trophy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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NAA President, Greg Principato added, \u201cAlmost no one thought\na helicopter could be flown on Mars. There were many who thought the project\nwas not worth the effort. It is by overcoming such doubts that great\nachievements happen and that\u2019s what the Ingenuity Team did. It is our honor to\npresent them with the 2021 Collier Trophy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Collier Trophy Selection Committee, comprised of 44\naviation and aerospace professionals, reviewed presentations from four nominees\nand selected the NASA\/JPL Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team as the recipient of\nthe Collier Trophy on March 31, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n