The Ingenuity Mars helicopter is reportedly back in contact with the Perseverance rover after being out of touch for 63 days. Photos/interesting engineering/NASA
FLORIDA – Helicopter Ingenuity Mars reported to be back in contact with the Perseverance rover after being out of contact for 63 days. The Ingenuity helicopter’s last contact was detected on April 26, 2023 after landing in the Jezero crater on Mars.
For more than two months, the news of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter and its fate have not been known after it disappeared during its 52nd flight mission. The Ingenuity helicopter contacted its partner, the Perseverance rover robot again, on June 28, 2023.
“The part of Jezero Crater that the Perseverance robot and Ingenuity helicopter are currently exploring has a lot of rugged terrain. This condition cut off communication between the two Mars rovers,” said Ingenuity team leader Josh Anderson, from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, quoted by SINDOnews from the Space page, Monday (3/7/2023).
The Ingenuity helicopter weighing 1.8 kg made its 52nd flight mission to the Jezero crater as deep as 363 meters for 139 seconds before contact was lost. The main purpose of this mission is to take photos as data for the Perseverance science team.
Newly received flight data indicates that Ingenuity’s helicopter remains in good health. If further checks confirm that, the helicopter could fly again in the next few weeks.
The Ingenuity helicopter and the Perseverance rover are slated for a sample-collecting mission inside the Jezero crater in February 2021. The helicopter quickly completed its primary mission, a five-flight campaign designed to demonstrate that aerial exploration is possible on Mars.
Ingenuity’s helicopter mission was later extended, and served as Perseverance reconnaissance. All communications to and from the Ingenuity helicopter must be routed via the Perseverance rover. Contact was lost when the Perseverance rover got behind the hill from Ingenuity’s helicopter viewpoint.
This is not the first case, previously in early April, the Ingenuity helicopter suddenly lost contact for six days. The rough terrain keeps Ingenuity from communicating with its robotic partner, the explorer Perseverance
“We were pleased to be back in touch with Ingenuity and received confirmation of Flight 52. The team’s aim was to keep Ingenuity ahead of Perseverance, which occasionally resulted in lost communications due to being out of bounds,” Anderson added.
(wib)
2023-07-03 09:30:36
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