US space agency NASA is flying an aircraft -- a helicopter capable of flying in alien atmosphere -- in Mars. The 1.8 kg chopper, called Ingenuity, nicknamed "Ginny", is part of NASA's Perseverance rover which was launched in 2020 and is still active on Mars. The man who designed the aircraft is Dr J Bob Balaram - an Indian citizen currently working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL. "It was a challenge making the Ingenuity helicopter as none believed in it," said Dr Balaram, who studied Mechanical Engineering at IIT, Madras.
