Human Innovation Series: Flight On Another Planet Is Possible
At Think Variant, we accelerate the rate of human innovation by breaking convention. We will be spotlighting the stories that remind us how far we've come and how far we’re capable of going. Some innovations change industries. Others change worlds. This is one of those stories.
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
demonstrates that powered, controlled flight on another planet is possible.
Taken by Think Variant, 2025
In April 2021, on a dusty plain nearly 180 million miles from Earth, something extraordinary happened. A small helicopter named Ingenuity took flight on Mars. It proved that flight is possible on Mars, a place where the atmosphere is so thin, most people thought it couldn't be done. For the first time in history, powered and controlled flight occurred on another planet.
By NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA and JPL engineers called it their “Wright Brothers moment.” And in a nod to that history, a small piece of fabric from the original 1903 Wright Flyer was tucked under Ingenuity’s solar panel, connecting two incredible firsts, more than a century apart.
What was supposed to be a one month experiment turned into an extended mission. It helped scout terrain for the Perseverance rover. It took aerial photos. It landed and launched again and again. And all of this in freezing temperatures, with no pilot, no joystick, just a solar powered system guided by smart software, small cameras, and the bold vision of the people who built it.
Taken by Think Variant, 2025
In every way, this little helicopter showed us what’s possible and it changed the future. If we can fly on Mars, where else can we go next? What could these breakthroughs mean for how we explore other planets?
Ingenuity’s flight is a reminder of why we do what we do at Think Variant, that accelerating the rate of human innovation can lift us into entirely new frontiers.
