After serving for three years, NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter has completed its final flight on Mars. During its 72nd flight earlier this month, Ingenuity lost communication with the Perseverance rover. Although contact was reestablished, it was discovered that at least one of its carbon fiber rotor blades was damaged during a landing on January 18th. Despite still being in contact with ground controllers, the helicopter is no longer capable of flying.
Ingenuity exceeded its expected lifespan, initially designed for five test flights over 30 days, and ultimately staying in service for over three years. It surpassed the original flight distance expectations by over 14 times and accumulated a total flight time of over two hours. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated, “The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to end. That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best — make the impossible, possible. Through missions like Ingenuity, NASA is paving the way for future flight in our solar system and smarter, safer human exploration to Mars and beyond.”
Following Ingenuity’s initial five flights, NASA decided to continue operating the helicopter as a demonstration. It served as a scout for Perseverance. On January 18, the Ingenuity team planned a short vertical flight to pinpoint the helicopter’s location after an emergency landing on its previous trip. The helicopter ascended to a height of 40 feet and hovered for 4.5 seconds before descending at a rate of 3.3 feet per second. However, contact with Perseverance was lost when it was approximately three feet above the surface.
It remains unclear how the rotor blade sustained damage, and NASA is investigating whether it struck the surface. Perseverance is too far away to examine the helicopter itself, but Ingenuity’s own camera spotted damage on the shadow of a rotor blade.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The resilient helicopter endured rugged terrain, a malfunctioning sensor, dust storms, which it was able to clean itself from, and a winter on Mars. The Ingenuity team will conclude the helicopter’s operations after conducting final tests and retrieving the last data and imagery from its memory. Having made history as the first aircraft from Earth to conduct a powered, controlled flight on another planet, Ingenuity’s next role is to rest quietly on the surface of Mars.
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