Google celebrates NASA Mars helicopter with soaring search Easter egg

On Monday, NASA notched up a win for space exploration with a successful flight of its Mars helicopter Ingenuity. The triumphant first powered, controlled flight on another planet had space fans celebrating. Google got in on the action with a search page Easter egg.

If you type “Ingenuity NASA” into Google search, a little orange-colored animated version of Ingenuity appears on the right side of the screen, rotors whirling. Click on it and the surface of Mars appears at the bottom of the screen. The little chopper buzzes around on top of the search results, all of which have a rosy hue.

Google shared a GIF of the animated Ingenuity. “Ten vertical feet for a helicopter, one giant leap for space exploration,” the company tweeted. “Congrats NASA Mars Helicopter on an amazing first flight!”
The actual mini-chopper hovered for less than a minute, but you can let the Google version do its thing for as long as you like.

NASA’s small but ambitious experimental helicopter has proven that flight in the thin atmosphere of Mars is possible. The Google Ingenuity doppelganger taking flight in the nonexistent atmosphere of your browser is a lovely way to celebrate the occasion back on Earth.