NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is achieving some major milestones this week.

A visitor to an exhibition looks at a display with a replica of the Chinese Mars Rover of the Tianwen-1 spacecraft in Beijing on March 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)BEIJING – As their respective spacecrafts headed to Mars, China and the U.S. held consultations earlier this year in a somewhat unusual series of exchanges between the rivals. China's National Space Agency confirmed Wednesday that it had working-level meetings and communications with NASA from January to March “to ensure the flight safety" of their crafts. U.S. law bans almost all contacts between NASA and China over concerns about technology theft and the secretive, military-backed nature of China’s space program. China's Tianwen-1 is orbiting Mars in preparation for a landing in May or June.

This illustration made available by NASA depicts the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on the red planet's surface near the Perseverance rover, left. Set to rocket away this week from Florida, Perseverance is NASA's brawniest and brainiest Martian rover yet. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. With eight successful Mars landings, NASA is upping the ante with its newest rover. The spacecraft Perseverance set for liftoff this week is NASAs biggest and brainiest Martian rover yet. CURIOSITY:The six-wheeled, car-sized Perseverance is a copycat of NASAs Curiosity rover, prowling Mars since 2012, but with more upgrades and bulk.