WASHINGTON (AFP) - The helicopter that Nasa has placed on Mars could make its first flight over the Red Planet within two days after a successful initial test of its rotors, the US space agency said on Friday (April 9).

The current plan for the first-ever attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet is for the four-pound (1.8kg) helicopter, dubbed the Ingenuity, to take off from Mars' Jezero Crater on Sunday at 10.54pm US eastern time (0254 GMT on Monday) and hover 10 feet (3 metre) above the surface for a half-minute, Nasa said.