NASA Ingenuity helicopter mission on Mars ends after three years | CNN

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter mission on Mars has come to a close after three years, during which it completed 72 historic flights. Originally an experiment, Ingenuity broke new ground as the first aircraft to operate and fly on a different planet, taking off on April 19, 2021.

Imagery and data from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, revealed damage to one or more of the chopper’s carbon fiber rotor blades during its final flight this month, rendering it unable to fly, according to the space agency.

Initially, the NASA mission team anticipated only five test flights in 30 days. Surpassing expectations, Ingenuity graduated to the role of an aerial scout for the Perseverance rover, flying over areas of scientific interest to capture images and help determine the rover’s next targets for detailed analysis.

Together, the rover and helicopter spent years exploring Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake and river delta on Mars, with the hope of finding evidence of past life on the red planet through samples collected by Perseverance and returned to Earth by future missions.

“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to end,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Ingenuity flew 14 times farther and 33 times longer than planned, totaling over 2 hours of flight time, marking a significant milestone.

Ingenuity has been compared with the Wright Flyer, the first successful powered aircraft to fly on Earth in 1903. Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s project manager at JPL, stated, “It’s humbling Ingenuity not only carries onboard a swatch from the original Wright Flyer, but also this helicopter followed in its footsteps and proved flight is possible on another world.”

The mission team faced numerous challenges in keeping Ingenuity operational, including operating in the thin Martian atmosphere, enduring dust storms and frigid temperatures, executing emergency landings, and handling software issues. Despite these challenges, the data collected during the mission will help inform future rotorcraft designs for Mars and other worlds.

Ingenuity’s mission has set the stage for future exploration of Mars and beyond, paving the way for advanced flight and human exploration.

Author: OpenAI