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A Helicopter on Mars

4th grade reading

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A Helicopter on Mars

In February 2021, NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars. Tucked underneath it was a passenger: a tiny helicopter called Ingenuity. It weighed only about 1.8 kilograms, a little less than a big bag of flour. Flying on Mars is much harder than flying on Earth. The air on Mars is extremely thin, about one hundredth as thick as the air we breathe. Helicopter blades push against the air to lift off, so with so little air, Ingenuity's blades had to spin very fast: about 2,400 times a minute. On 19 April 2021, Ingenuity rose about three metres into the Martian sky, hovered for about forty seconds and landed again. It was the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. Engineers on Earth cheered, even though the radio signals took several minutes to reach them. Ingenuity was only meant to make five test flights. Instead, it made 72. It scouted ahead for the rover, taking photos of rocks and slopes so that drivers on Earth could choose safe routes. In January 2024, one of Ingenuity's blades was damaged during a landing, and the mission ended. The little helicopter still sits on Mars today, and engineers are already using what they learned to design bigger flying machines for future missions.

  1. Question 1

    Read "A Helicopter on Mars". How did Ingenuity get to Mars?

    • A. tucked underneath the Perseverance rover
    • B. on a separate rocket a year later
    • C. carried by astronauts
    • D. it flew there by itself

  2. Question 2

    Read "A Helicopter on Mars". Why did Ingenuity's blades have to spin so fast?

    • A. Because the air on Mars is very thin.
    • B. Because Mars is very hot.
    • C. Because the helicopter was heavy.
    • D. Because the rover was chasing it.

  3. Question 3

    Read "A Helicopter on Mars". Ingenuity "scouted ahead" for the rover. What does scouted mean?

    • A. followed behind
    • B. slept
    • C. fixed broken parts
    • D. went first to look and gather information

  4. Question 4

    Read "A Helicopter on Mars". How is this text mainly organised?

    • A. as a list of opinions
    • B. in time order, from landing to the end of the mission
    • C. as a problem with no solution
    • D. as a comparison of two planets

  5. Question 5

    Read "A Helicopter on Mars". Is this a first-hand or a second-hand account?

    • A. second-hand: the writer reports facts but was not there
    • B. first-hand: it is the helicopter's diary
    • C. first-hand: the writer flew the helicopter
    • D. first-hand: the writer lives on Mars

  6. Question 6

    Read "A Helicopter on Mars". Which is the best summary?

    • A. Mars has thin air.
    • B. A small helicopter made the first powered flight on Mars and flew far more times than planned, helping future missions.
    • C. Ingenuity weighed about 1.8 kilograms.
    • D. Helicopters are the best way to travel.

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