On April 19, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made its first flight on Mars. It ran on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, “a processor traditionally found in smartphones like Samsung’s Galaxy S5.” NASA used commercially available parts. Ingenuity completed 72 flights.
JPL engineer Tim Canham explained the choice: “The main driver is because the Snapdragon 801 board came already with Linux.” In 2026, with Ingenuity grounded, JPL gave the helicopter’s idle base station on the Perseverance rover a new job. Its processor now helps the rover find its own position. JPL’s Vandi Verma said: “This is kind of like giving the rover GPS.”