Perseverance alone remains: Ingenuity’s Adventure on Mars has come to an end
Digital Aviation, Sp.- POT announced this week the closure of the helicopter’s distinguished mission. Ingenuity on Mars, exceeding all expectations since its landing on the Red Planet on February 18, 2021.
Initially designed to carry out up to five experimental flights. In 30 days, Ingenuity not only accomplished, but significantly expanded its mission by nearly three years. making a total of 72 flights and exceeding the planned distance by more than 14 times.
Ingenuity refuses to die
Although images sent back to Earth this week showed that the helicopter remains upright and in contact with ground controllersThey were noticed damage to one or more of its blades during its final flight on January 18, leaving Ingenuity unable to make further flights.
How they remind us in Eureka BlogIngenuity realized 72 flights with a total length of 17 kilometers. It stayed in the air for a total of more than two hours, 128.8 minutes, reached a maximum height of 24 meters and a maximum speed of 36 km/h..
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson praised Ingenuity’s achievement, highlighting its contribution to what was previously thought impossible.
Throughout its expanded mission, Ingenuity has faced various challenges, from operate in 48 different locations until it makes three crash landings and survives the cold Martian winter. Despite the setbacks, the Ingenuity team managed to overcome every obstacle and make significant contributions to the future of space exploration.
Upon completion of flight operations, the Ingenuity team will conduct final tests of the helicopter’s systems and download remaining images and data stored in internal memory.. Currently, the Perseverance rover is too far away to attempt to image Ingenuity at its final location.
The Ingenuity Mars helicopter was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is operated by NASA Headquarters. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm and SolAero provided design assistance and major components. Lockheed Space has developed and manufactured a system for delivering helicopters to Mars. Dave Lavery is the program manager for the Ingenuity Mars helicopter at NASA Headquarters.