In 2021, a historic event took place on Mars: aviation appeared on it. It was Ingenuity – literally a smartphone with a propeller – and this Martian helicopter has been traveling around Mars for the past three years. But he recently flew a flight: at the end of his 72nd flight, he damaged the propeller blades. NASA has announced that Ingenuity will no longer fly.
“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to an end,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “This amazing helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined, helping NASA do what we do best – make the impossible possible.
Ingenuity was launched to Mars in February 2021, hidden in the belly of the Perseverance rover. On April 19, 2021, the helicopter became the first powered aircraft to take off from the surface of another planet.
This tiny helicopter was originally designed to perform only five test flights over 30 days. Unable to leave its robotic companion, the Martian helicopter exceeded all expectations, completing 72 flights and flying 14 times further than planned. The total flight time was two hours.
Its success proved that a controlled flight on Mars is possible, paving the way for future aircraft that will be able to fly over different worlds in the solar system.
Over the past three years, Ingenuity has completely outgrown the testing phase and become a handy assistant to Perseverance, updated with the ability to choose landing sites on Mars and help its rover friend overcome the treacherous terrain of another planet.
According to NASA, during its last flight, Ingenuity reached a maximum height of 12 meters and hovered above the surface of Mars for 4.5 seconds, and then began to descend at a rate of 1 meter per second. However, just before landing on the surface of Mars, Ingenuity lost contact with the Perseverance rover. Ingenuity relies on Perseverance to keep it connected to Earth, using the rover’s antennas to exchange data at about 100 kilobits per second.
Without the help of ground control, the Ingenuity could have landed unsuccessfully, causing damage to its blades. NASA is still investigating the reasons for the loss of communication.
