NASA Donates Ingenuity Prototype to Smithsonian Museum
JAKARTA – The United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will donate the Ingenuity prototype to the pavilion of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM).
From the report by Collector space, the prototype of this Mars helicopter will be placed in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. NASA handed over this prototype on Friday, December 15 through a donation handover event.
In fact, the Smithsonian would like to display the original Ingenuity in their museum, but this helicopter is still busy breaking records on Mars. Even though it seems difficult to show off the real Ingenuity, NASA provides the option of submitting a model of its design.
This prototype is an original component in the manufacture of Ingenuity and has passed the testing stage at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Even though it is only in crude form, submitting this prototype is still a good option.
NASA JPL, via social media, said that handing over the Ingenuity prototype to the Smithsonian was a very appropriate step. The reason is, this prototype could become part of aviation history.
"With the donation of the Ingenuity prototype to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the Mars Helicopter will forever be recognized as a part of aviation history," said NASA JPL.
SEE ALSO:
Meanwhile, the Smithsonian said that showing off Ingenuity flying with Perseverance was one of their biggest desires. With donations from NASA, their wish finally came true.
“I really wanted to bring to the museum some parts of the [Mars Helicopter] development that would explain the development process of this new technology and to represent the technology itself in future exhibits,” said NASM Curator of Planetary Science and Exploration Matt Shindell, quoted from Collector space.
Even though it is just a prototype, the size of the prototype and Ingenuity which is currently operating on Mars is still the same. The only difference that can be found in the prototype and Ingenuity in operation is the framework or construction.