SPACE — The American Space Agency’s (NASA) helicopter Ingenuity completed its 72nd flight on Mars with a rough emergency landing. The helicopter lost contact with the Perseverance rover when it was still about 3 meters (10 feet) from the ground.
After successfully establishing communications, NASA announced that they had seen images confirming that after nearly 1,000 days in service, Ingenuity had made its final flight. Ingenuity’s mission has ended.
NASA shared a photo of Ingenuity which confirmed that Ingenuity was indeed in a bad situation. Ingenuity can’t take selfies like the rover, and Perseverance is currently too far away to take photos. However, the team used sunlight to examine the rotors and discovered the problem in their shadows.
The rotor blades are damaged. The 72nd flight on January 18 in which the helicopter hovered to establish position was Ingenuity’s last.
NASA also released extraordinary new photos of rolling sand dunes taken by the helicopter from about 12 meters (39 feet) in the air in December, during its 70th flight.
On Ingenuity’s 70th flight on December 22, 2023, this helicopter managed to capture views of rolling sand from a height of 12 meters (39 feet) above the surface.
The image shows the largest sand field the helicopter has ever crossed.
Although it’s sad when a mission ends, Ingenuity is an excellent helicopter. Ingenuity is the first flying vehicle on another world.
Ingenuity is also just a prototype, designed to test five planned flights over 30 days. In contrast, Ingenuity worked so well that it became a scientific partner for Perseverance. Ingenuity can provide a bird’s eye view of the terrain the rover will encounter.
In total, Ingenuity flew for more than two hours, traveling more than 17 kilometers (11 miles). The highest height it reached was 24 meters (79 ft), five times higher than expected in the plans.
2024-02-01 23:07:00
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