The #MarsHelicopter is nearly ready to take off. Join the ride on http://nasa.gov/live

[soothsayer]

2. It's very light, the blades spin really fast, and Mars' gravity helps

From the press kit:

Mars has a rarefied atmosphere – just about 1% of the density of our atmosphere on Earth. Because the Mars atmosphere is so much less dense, Ingenuity is designed to be light, with rotor blades that are much larger and spin much faster than what would be required for a helicopter of Ingenuity’s mass on Earth. Mars does give the helicopter a little help: The gravity there is only about one-third that of Earth’s. That means slightly more mass can be lifted at a given spin rate.

Ingenuity will attempt up to five test flights within a 30-Martian-day (31-Earth-day) demonstration window.

Its pioneering aspirations are similar to those of the Wright brothers' Flyer, which achieved the first powered, controlled flight on Earth.