Following 72 flights over the Martian sky, NASA’s Mars helicopter will not be able to fly again. Recent images captured by the craft itself reveal the reason for this. Ingenuity, which was the first craft to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet, has suffered significant damage to some of its four-foot-long rotors, crucial for its aerial lift. The attached navigation camera on Ingenuity’s toaster-sized fuselage captured these images, showing several broken rotor tips, with their shadows cast onto the Martian surface by the sun.
Compared to Earth, the Martian atmosphere is much thinner, with a density of approximately one percent of Earth’s. This makes it challenging to generate the lift needed for flight. Ingenuity’s rotor blades spun at an incredible rate of 2,400 revolutions per minute, allowing it to cover distances as far as 2,315 feet. Unfortunately, controlled flight is no longer possible due to the damage.
NASA’s Perseverance rover was greatly supported by Ingenuity, serving as a “scout” as both robots searched for potential locations that may have preserved signs of past primitive life on the Martian surface. Although no evidence of life has been found, the robots identified areas where primitive life could have once thrived, such as in moist sediments along lakeshores and Martian rivers.
NASA envisions future Martian exploration involving not only robotic helicopters but also investigating the potential for a compact Mars plane, possibly reaching speeds of 135 mph over the Martian desert. NASA administrator Bill Nelson praised Ingenuity, stating that it “helped NASA do what we do best — make the impossible, possible.”
Ingenuity’s shadow on the ground reveals two broken rotors.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
A broken Ingenuity rotor tip’s shadow cast onto the Martian ground.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
