In a press conference Thursday, NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced the conclusion of the highly successful Ingenuity mission.
The Mars helicopter sustained damage following its 72nd flight on Mars. Images sent from the red planet earlier this week revealed damage to the helicopter’s carbon fiber rotor blades after experiencing a communications blackout. After further analysis, it was determined the helicopter was no longer flight-worthy.
Ingenuity launched with the Perseverance rover aboard an Atlas V rocket on July 30th, 2020. The helicopter was designed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in California.
Ingenuity Exceeded Expectations
According to NASA, the Ingenuity was designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days. In 2021 the Ingenuity became the first aircraft to operate on another world. Ingenuity operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.
“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to an end,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “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.”
After successfully completing the initial flights, the helicopter began exploring other areas that interested scientists nearby. Together, Ingenuity and Perseverance spent years surveying and studying the Jezero Crater, a site scientists believe was once an ancient lake.
Data Analysis Continues
For now, NASA is in the process of downloading all the data that Ingenuity has gathered and attempting to understand what went wrong. Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s project manager at JPL, remarked “We couldn’t be prouder of our little tough trailblazer.”
Due to the tremendous success of the Ingenuity helicopter, future helicopter missions on Mars are currently under development.
