of NASA after three years of service The helicopter flew on Mars for the last time. Earlier this month, during its 72nd flight, Ingenuity With the Perseverance rover. Though after , revealed that at least one of Ingenuity’s carbon fiber rotor blades was damaged during the January 18 landing. The helicopter is upright and still in contact with ground controllers, but it is no longer airborne.
The invention has far exceeded its originally planned life. NASA designed the helicopter to conduct up to five test flights in 30 days. However, he remained in service for more than three years. Ingenuity flew 14 times farther than originally expected, with a total flight time of more than two hours.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson: “Ingenuity’s historic journey, the first spacecraft on another planet, is over” . “This helicopter has flown higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best – make the impossible possible. Through missions like Ingenuity, NASA is paving the way for future flight across our solar system and smarter, safer human exploration to Mars and beyond.”
After Ingenuity’s first five flights, NASA decided to keep the helicopter operational as an operational demonstration. .
On January 18, the Ingenuity team planned a short vertical flight so they could pinpoint the helicopter’s location after having to make an emergency landing on the previous flight. The chopper reached a height of 40 feet and remained airborne for 4.5 seconds before descending at a rate of 3.3 feet per second. However, it lost contact with Perseverance when it was about three feet above the surface.
It is unclear how the rotor blade was damaged. NASA is investigating whether the blade hit the surface. Endurance is far from over The mower’s own camera detected damage in the shadow of the rotor blade.
The durable helicopter survived rough terrain, a dead sensor, dust storms (after which it was able to clean itself) and a Martian winter. After the Ingenuity team has performed final tests and downloaded the latest data and images from its memory, the helicopter will cease operations. After making history as the world’s first airplane All Ingenuity can do now is rest comfortably on the surface of Mars.
