The small helicopter Ingenuity, which has been flying around the Red Planet for nearly three years, has made its final flight. At least one of the helicopter’s carbon-fiber rotor blades was damaged during its latest mission, grounding it forever, NASA announced today.
To say that Ingenuity has been a notable success is a bit of an exaggeration: the helicopter was launched as a test mission for the technology, with engineers hoping to achieve up to five flights using the vehicle. As NASA Administrator Bill Nelson He explained in a statement todayThe innovation was in the face of the extremely thin Martian atmosphere, whose density is less than 1% of the density of Earth’s atmosphere.
There are other challenges, too: Mars is known for massive dust storms, frigid temperatures, and a thin atmosphere that does little to shield radiation. But despite all these challenges, Ingenuity ended up making 72 flights, which combined covered a distance of 11 miles and climbed up to 79 feet at the highest altitude.
The self-driving helicopter took to the skies for the first time on April 19, 2021. It arrived on the Red Planet attached to the underside of the Perseverance rover, which is still active on Mars. Ingenuity served as the rover’s scout, examining sites and collecting important images and videos.
“Like the Wright brothers, Ingenuity has paved the way for future travel in our solar system, and is leading the way for smarter, safer human missions to Mars and beyond,” Nelson said.
Nelson said the agency is still investigating the possibility of the damaged blade hitting the ground. Just last week, NASA experienced a two-day communications blackout with the small helicopter after it made what turned out to be its final flight.