After three years on Mars, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter mission ends

NASA’s historic Ingenuity Mars helicopter has completed its mission to the Red Planet after exceeding expectations and completing dozens more flights than planned. While the helicopter remains upright and in communication with ground controllers, images from its Jan. 18 flight sent to Earth this week indicate that one or more of its rotor blades suffered damage during landing and that he is no longer able to fly.

Originally designed as a technology demonstration to conduct up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for nearly three years, completed 72 flights and flew more than 14 times farther than expected while logging more than two hours of total flight time.

“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft to another planet, is coming to an end,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “This remarkable helicopter has flown higher and further than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best: make the impossible possible. Through missions like Ingenuity, NASA is opening up the path to future flights in our solar system and smarter, safer human exploration to Mars and beyond.

Ingenuity landed on Mars on February 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover, and took off for the first time from the Martian surface on April 19, proving that powered, controlled flight on Mars was possible. After completing four more flights, it embarked on a new operational demonstration mission, serving as aerial reconnaissance for Perseverance scientists and rover drivers. In 2023, the helicopter successfully completed two flight tests which further expanded the team’s knowledge of its aerodynamic limits.

“At NASA JPL, innovation is at the heart of what we do,” Leshin said. “Ingenuity is an example of how we push the boundaries of what’s possible every day. I’m incredibly proud of our team behind this historic technological achievement and can’t wait to see what they invent next. »

The Ingenuity team had planned for the helicopter to make a short vertical flight on January 18 to determine its location after making an emergency landing during its previous flight. The data shows that, as planned, the helicopter reached a maximum altitude of 40 feet (12 meters) and hovered for 4.5 seconds before beginning its descent at a speed of 3.3 feet per second (1 meter per second).

However, about 1 meter above the surface, Ingenuity lost contact with the rover, which serves as a communications relay for the rotorcraft. The next day, communications were restored and more information about the flight was relayed to ground controllers at NASA JPL. Images revealing damage to the rotor blade arrived several days later. The cause of the communications outage and the orientation of the helicopter at the time of landing are still under investigation.

Triumphs, challenges

During an extended mission that lasted nearly 1,000 Martian days, more than 33 times longer than originally planned, Ingenuity was enhanced with the ability to autonomously choose landing sites in hazardous terrain, dealing with a dead sensor, cleaning up after dust storms, operating from 48 different airfields, made three emergency landings and survived a freezing Martian winter.

Designed to operate in the spring, Ingenuity was unable to power its heaters through the night during the coldest periods of winter, causing the flight computer to periodically freeze and reset. These power “blackouts” forced the team to rethink Ingenuity’s winter operations in order to keep flying.

With flight operations now complete, the Ingenuity team will perform final tests on the helicopter’s systems and upload the remaining images and data to Ingenuity’s onboard memory. The Perseverance rover is currently too far away to attempt to image the helicopter at its final airfield.

“It is humbling that Ingenuity is not only carrying a sample of the original Wright Flyer, but that this helicopter has also followed in its footsteps and proven that flight is possible on another world,” said the project manager. of Ingenuity, Teddy Tzanetos of NASA JPL.

“The Martian helicopter would never have flown once, let alone 72 times, without the passion and dedication of the Ingenuity and Perseverance teams. History’s first Martian helicopter will leave behind an indelible mark on the future of space exploration and inspire fleets of aircraft on Mars – and on other worlds – for decades to come. »