The US space agency NASA was able to restore contact with its small helicopter, Ingenuity, located on Mars, it announced on Saturday, after losing it for some time due to an unexpected malfunction.
This helicopter, which resembles a large drone, became in 2021 the first motorized vehicle to carry out flights over a planet other than Earth.
It was carried to the Red Planet that day by the mobile robot “Perseverance”, which transmits data from it to Earth, and its mission is to search for indications of ancient life on Mars, according to what Agence France-Presse reported.
However, communications between Ingenuity and the rover were suddenly cut off on Thursday during the helicopter’s 72nd flight over Mars.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is responsible for the helicopter, announced Saturday afternoon on the “X” network that there was “good news today.”
The agency indicated that it was finally possible to restore contact with the helicopter by issuing an order to “Perseverance” to carry out “long-term listening operations to pick up the ‘Ingenuity’ signal,” according to Agence France-Presse.
She added that the team responsible for the helicopter “is working to study the new data to obtain a clearer explanation for the reason for the unexpected interruption of communication during the seventy-second flight,” according to the French agency.
NASA previously explained that Thursday’s flight was aimed at “scrutinizing the helicopter’s systems, after it landed earlier than was expected during its previous flight.”
“Ingenuity” reached an altitude of 12 meters, but “during its descent, communications between the helicopter and the rover stopped earlier, before landing,” NASA reported in the post it reported on Friday evening.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory indicated, via “X” on Friday, that “Ingenuity” is no longer within “Perseverance” vision, and that the teams responsible for the rover “may resort to moving it to a closer location to conduct a visual inspection.”
Last year, the US Space Agency lost contact with the Martian helicopter for longer periods of more than two months.
The helicopter, which weighs 1.8 kilograms, was originally supposed to be limited to only 5 sorties, but its mission exceeded all expectations.
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The total distance that the helicopter has covered in its sorties to date has reached 17 kilometers, and it has reached a flight altitude of 24 meters.
Its steadfastness throughout this period surprised those concerned, especially since it uses its solar panels, which charge its batteries during the day, to provide heating for itself in the cold and icy nights of Mars.
The helicopter played the role of an aerial explorer to help the mobile robot search for signs of ancient microbial life billions of years ago, when Mars was wetter and warmer than it is today.
