Ingenuity was the first helicopter to fly on another planet, a 1.8 kg craft carried to Mars by Perseverance.
nasa-ingenuity-helicopter Ingenuity was a NASA technology demonstration that proved powered, controlled flight in the thin air of Mars. Built by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it rode on the belly of the Perseverance rover and flew short scouting flights from the surface. It made 72 flights between 19 April 2021 and 18 January 2024.
Its low mass of 1.8 kg drove the choice of materials. The two 1.2 m rotors, one above the other, spin at up to 2,400 revolutions per minute and have blades with a foam core wrapped in carbon fibre. The legs are carbon fibre too, and the power comes from lithium-ion cells and a small solar panel.
Ingenuity was a technology demonstration that proved powered, controlled flight in the thin Martian air. It rode on the belly of Perseverance and flew short scouting flights from the surface. Its low mass drove its materials: carbon-fibre composite rotors and legs, lithium-ion cells and a small solar panel.
Each rotor is 1.2 m long, and its blades have a foam core wrapped in carbon fibre. In the design, most of the rotor's primary structure is carbon fibre composite, and the motor windings use rectangular copper wire.
The landing gear is four legs made of tapered carbon fibre and epoxy tubes, which absorb the loads of landing. A central mast, a hollow tube, runs from the top of the helicopter to the bottom.
The battery is six lithium-ion cells, and a solar panel recharges it between flights. The panel's cells are inverted metamorphic cells from SolAero Technologies. At night, Kapton film heaters attached to the cells keep the battery warm.
The rotor blades, wrapped around a foam core, the rotor's primary structure and the landing legs.
The rectangular wire in the motor windings, and the wiring that comes down through the mast.
The six cells of the battery.
The cells of the solar panel, made by SolAero Technologies.
The film heaters attached to the battery cells. The grade is not stated.
Ingenuity travelled to Mars on the Perseverance rover and rode on its belly. NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory built it. SolAero Technologies made the solar cells, and the battery uses Sony cells. The outermost thermal coating on the fuselage comes from Sheldahl.
Rockwest Composites
Carbon fibre. Here: Rotor blades (upper and lower); Rotor primary structure and more. There: Face skin carbon fibre; HR40 / NB321 unidirectional prepreg and more.
Copper. Here: Rotor motor windings; Wiring through mast to ECM. There: Copper traces in the skins.
Kapton film. Here: Battery heaters. There: Kapton edging on STRATOSubstrate panels.
Blackwing Space
Carbon fibre. Here: Rotor blades (upper and lower); Rotor primary structure and more. There: Structure option: carbon composite shell finish.
lithium-ion. Here: Battery cells (6). There: Puffin battery pack (Puffin Pack); Draft power module cells (Li-ion or LiFePO4).
Blackwing Space
Carbon fibre. Here: Rotor blades (upper and lower); Rotor primary structure and more. There: Structure option: carbon composite shell finish.
lithium-ion. Here: Battery cells (6). There: Puffin battery pack (Puffin Pack); Draft power module cells (Li-ion or LiFePO4).
Blackwing Space
Carbon fibre. Here: Rotor blades (upper and lower); Rotor primary structure and more. There: Structure option: carbon composite shell finish.
lithium-ion. Here: Battery cells (6). There: Puffin battery pack (Puffin Pack); Draft power module cells (Li-ion or LiFePO4).
NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative
Copper. Here: Rotor motor windings; Wiring through mast to ECM. There: Cabling, etc. (template row 14).
lithium-ion. Here: Battery cells (6). There: Electrical power storage.
NASA Ames
Carbon fibre. Here: Rotor blades (upper and lower); Rotor primary structure and more. There: TechEdSat secondary structural pieces.
Copper. Here: Rotor motor windings; Wiring through mast to ECM. There: Frangibolt actuator cylinder.
Most of what is known about its materials comes from the design stage, before the flight hardware was final, so the flown parts may differ. The foam in the blades, the mast tube, the motor magnets, the base under the solar cells and the exact grade of Kapton are not stated.
What is written above is built from these numbers and quotes. Each row links to the page it was taken from. Get all of it as JSON, or ask our MCP server.
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Mass | 1.8 kg (4 lb) |
| Rotors | Two rotors, 1.2 m long, up to 2,400 rpm |
| First flight | 19 April 2021 |
| Last flight | 18 January 2024 |
| Flights | 72 |
| Battery mass (6 cells) | 273 g (design paper) |
| Solar panel | 680 cm2 substrate, 544 cm2 active cell area (design paper) |
Each material named in the sources: where it is used here, which other products use it, and its key numbers when its material page exists.
Used in 3 partsRotor blades (upper and lower) · Rotor primary structure · Legs (4)
Used in 2 partsRotor motor windings · Wiring through mast to ECM
Used in 1 partSolar panel cells
Used in 1 partBattery heaters
Used in 1 partBattery cells (6)
Rotor, legs, battery, solar cells and heaters have stated materials; the mast, fuselage frame and foam do not. Much of the detail is from the 2018 design paper.
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rotor blades (upper and lower)“The SRH and Ingenuity blades both consist of a foam core wrapped in carbon fiber.” | carbon-fibre composite skin over foam corecarbon-fibre | — | — |
| Blade foam core“consist of a foam core wrapped in carbon fiber” | Not said | — | — |
| Rotor primary structure“fabricated from carbon fiber composites for most of the primary structure” | carbon-fibre compositescarbon-fibre | — | — |
| Rotor motor windings“solenoid wound teeth using rectangular copper wire” | coppercopper | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legs (4)“4 legs made of tapered carbon fiber/epoxy tubes” | carbon-fibre/epoxycarbon-fibre | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery cells (6)“6 Sony SE US1865o VTC4 Li-ion cells with a nameplate capacity of 2 Ah” | lithium-ion (Sony VTC4 cells as quoted)lithium-ion-cell | — | — |
| Solar panel cells“made from Inverted Metamorphic (IMM4J) cells from SolAero Technologies” | inverted metamorphic multijunction (IMM4J) cells, SolAerosolaero-imm4j-solar-cell | — | — |
| Battery heaters“powers Kapton film heaters attached to the battery cells” | Kapton film (grade not stated)kapton-film-grade-unstated | — | — |
| Fuselage outer thermal coating“The outermost fuselage thermal coating is from Sheldahl” | Sheldahl coating (composition not stated) | — | — |
| Wiring through mast to ECM“through the copper wiring that penetrate the ECM from the mast” | coppercopper | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central mast“a hollow structural tube that runs from the top of the helicopter to the bottom” | Not said | — | — |
Mast, fuselage frame, blade foam, motor magnets, avionics boards, solar panel substrate and bonding materials are not stated.
Collected from public pages and documents, checked 4 Nov 2026.
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