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After 72 flights and three years, NASA has retired Ingenuity, the Mars helicopter that became the first aircraft operated outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
During its final flight on January 18, the drone lost contact with its Perseverance rover counterpart. Communication was reestablished two days later.
Unfortunately, the exercise, which was intended to be “a quick vertical flight to check the helicopter’s systems,” proved fatal.
“New images confirm that the #MarsHelicopter suffered rotor damage during flight 72. Our helicopter has made its last flight.” revealed NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on Thursday.
NASA more detailed that the helicopter remains upright and in communication with ground controllers, but now on the ground.
A photograph published by JPL of the shadow of a rotor blade implies that a piece of the blade broke off or bent, most likely the former given its carbon fiber foam core material.
“We are teary-eyed, but we are very happy that it exceeded expectations,” JPL saying.
NASA said that now that flight operations have concluded, the Ingenuity team will perform final tests on the helicopter’s systems and download the remaining images and data to the helicopter’s onboard memory.
Ingenuity arrived on Mars docked to the bottom of the Perseverance rover in February 2021.
It was originally designed to be a technology demonstration and was expected to perform up to five experimental test flights over the course of 30 days. Instead, the helicopter continued for almost three years, accumulating 72 flights and two hours of total flight time.
His job role shifted from demonstrating that powered, controlled flight was possible on Mars to demonstrating operations, and then serving as an aerial scout for Perseverance scientists and rover drivers.
The device survived: it was upgraded to autonomously choose landing sites on the Martian terrain, managed operations with a dead sensor, I literally knew how dust it was shut down and endured harsh temperatures and three emergency landings.
The lessons learned from the Mars helicopter will endure.
Ingenuity project director Teddy Tzanetos praised the drone for having “demonstrated that flight is possible in another world.”
“The first-ever helicopter on Mars will leave an indelible mark on the future of space exploration and will inspire fleets of aircraft on Mars – and other worlds – for decades to come,” Tzanetos said. ®