The mission of Ingenuity is coming to an end, but before that, mission scientists will try to understand the extent of the damage suffered by the helicopter. NASA recently livestreamed a tribute to Mars helicopter Ingenuity, which sustained rotor damage during its latest flight. It was revealed during the livestream that all four of Ingenuity’s blades were damaged during a rough landing on Mars.Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity Project Manager, stated that NASA and JPL are still uncertain about the cause of the damage to Ingenuity’s blades. It is unclear if the helicopter’s power decreased during landing, leading to unintended contact with the ground, or if it accidentally touched the ground causing a “brownout.”Tzanetos mentioned that NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will slowly rotate and adjust the angle of the helicopter’s blades, while capturing video footage, to determine the extent of the damage. However, Tzanetos emphasized that regardless of the imaging results, the dual-rotor drone has concluded its final flight and will soon conclude its mission.”Helicopters like this are not designed to fly even with the smallest fraction of a balance issue, and we’re going to end our mission in the weeks ahead,” Tzanetos said during the livestream.Related: ‘It’s sort of been invincible until this moment:’ Mars helicopter Ingenuity pilot says ‘bland’ terrain may have doomed NASA chopperDuring the NASA Science Live webcast, Tzanetos and Tiffany Morgan, NASA’s Mars Exploration Program Deputy Director, praised the plucky ‘copter. Morgan highlighted how Ingenuity assisted the Perseverance rover and proved to be a valuable companion since both landed on Feb. 18, 2021.The helicopter was initially planned for five flights, but has now concluded its mission after the 72nd flight.”Not only did it assist in the design of future missions, but it also contributed to Perseverance’s current mission. It scouted ahead and provided insight into the operations Perseverance would encounter, helping planners to navigate the terrain and identify potential science targets,” Morgan explained.The accomplishment of Ingenuity in flying in the thin Martian atmosphere and conducting numerous sorties demonstrates JPL’s expertise and could pave the way for future missions, she added.”The NASA JPL team not only demonstrated the technology, they also demonstrated an approach that, if used in the future, will truly assist us in exploring other planets and be as awe-inspiring and amazing as Ingenuity has been,” Morgan remarked.The helicopter significantly surpassed the agency’s expectations, particularly considering it was constructed with off-the-shelf commercial cell phone components and tackled the largely unknown challenge of flying an aircraft on another planet. “We couldn’t be prouder or happier with how our little baby has performed,” Tzanetos said. “It’s been the mission of a lifetime for all of us. And I wanted to say thank you to all of the people here that gave their weekends, their late nights. All the engineers, the aerodynamic scientists, the technicians who hand-crafted this aircraft.”Morgan added that NASA is already contemplating the use of future helicopters on other planets or celestial bodies, building on the foundation laid by Ingenuity and the knowledge gained from this completed mission.”I really look forward to the future and what we can do with the offspring of Ingenuity,” she voiced.
