The Ingenuity helicopter has completed its mission on Mars, exceeding expectations and making dozens more flights than planned. This is stated in the message NASA.
“While the helicopter remains upright and in communication with ground controllers, imagery of its Jan. 18 flight sent to Earth this week indicates one or more of its rotor blades sustained damage during landing, and it is no longer capable of flight,” the statement says.
As it is known, during the 72nd flight on Mars on January 18, communication with the vehicle was lost. On January 21, it became known that NASA specialists managed to restore communication with the helicopter. After that, the team began to study the data and understand the situation.
“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to end,” said NASA. “That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best – make the impossible, possible.
With missions like Ingenuity, the agency is paving the way for future missions in our solar system and smarter and safer exploration, including Mars.
Ingenuity landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. It lifted off the Martian surface for the first time on April 19 and proved that a controlled flight to Mars is possible.
The Ingenuity mission lasted almost 1000 Martian days, which is 33 times longer than originally planned. During this time, the helicopter overcame various difficulties, for example, it made three emergency landings and survived the Martian winter.
Upon completion of the flights, the Ingenuity team will conduct final tests of the helicopter’s systems and download the remaining images and data from the vehicle’s onboard memory.
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