After nearly three years on Mars and a historic mission, the small helicopter Ingenuity will stop flying over the Red Planet due to an issue that occurred during its 72nd flight, the North American Space Agency (NASA) announced this Thursday.
“What Ingenuity has achieved goes far beyond what we thought possible,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a video message.
The helicopter “paved the way for future flights in our solar system,” he said.
In 2021, Ingenuity became the first powered vehicle to fly on another planet, proving that it is possible to fly in Martian air, which is equivalent to just 1% of Earth’s atmosphere.
The helicopter was initially expected to fly only five times, but due to its very good performance, the mission was extended until this Thursday.
On its 72nd flight last week, the helicopter reached an altitude of 12 meters, but shortly before landing, communications suddenly stopped.
Communications could still be restored the next day, but a few days later NASA teams were able to observe damage to the propeller.
The helicopter is “no longer capable of flying,” NASA confirmed in a statement, adding that the reasons for the communication failure were still being analyzed.
Ingenuity had to make an emergency landing on its 71st flight, the space agency said. Therefore, the 72nd flight was planned as a short one to ensure better localization.
Weighing just 1.8 kilograms, the helicopter was more like a large drone, covering a total of about 17 kilometers and flying at an altitude of 24 meters, with a total flight time of more than two hours.
Ingenuity arrived on Mars in February 2021 along with the Perseverance rover, whose mission is to search for traces of ancient microbial life on Mars.
So the device was used as an aerial reconnaissance vehicle to help its wheeled satellite, which was “too far away to attempt” to visit and photograph the helicopter, NASA detailed.
Ingenuity’s durability is remarkable considering it had to survive the freezing nights of Mars while staying warm thanks to solar panels that charged its batteries throughout the day.
The North American space agency is working on another “flying car” project as part of the Dragonfly mission, this time aimed at Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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