The ground-breaking NASA Mars Helicopter Mission is now complete. Known for being the first powered aircraft to fly on another planet, it showcased the tiny robot helicopter Ingenuity. In a social media video, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the news.

“It is bittersweet that I must announce that Ingenuity, the ‘little helicopter that could’ – and it kept saying, ‘I think I can, I think I can’ – well, it has now taken its last flight on Mars,” Nelson was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The mission was originally scheduled to last 30 days, but it ended up lasting almost three years. Seventy-two planes carried Ingenuity on a voyage fourteen times longer than expected. In April 2021, this little 1.8 kg solar-powered airplane set out on its historic journey. It accomplished a successful hover above the Martian surface and showed promise for novel airborne exploration techniques throughout the solar system.

Ingenuity ran into problems in the last few days of its existence; on its penultimate flight, there was an emergency landing. Following that, on January 18, the Perseverance rover lost touch with Earth during its final journey. At that point, ingenuity was only three feet over the floor. Reestablishing contact revealed damage to one of its rotor blades.

“We’re investigating the possibility that the blade struck the ground,” Nelson stated.

In February 2021, Perseverance, bearing Ingenuity, touched down on Mars. Creativity looked like a four-legged box with a twin-rotor parasol, intended for the thin atmosphere of Mars. On its first flight, it rotated 96 degrees, gained 10 feet in altitude, and made a safe landing. It was compared to the Wright Brothers’ flight in 1903.

The early successes of ingenuity led to an increased role. Using its onboard camera, it surveyed potential areas for Perseverance and survived nearly 1,000 days on Mars, including severe winters.

Final testing will be carried out by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who will also download the remaining photographs from Ingenuity. Perseverance, however, is too far away to take pictures of Ingenuity’s last resting place.

SOURCE: https://www.livemint.com/science/news/nasa-ends-mars-helicopter-mission-ingenuity-stops-flying-after-nearly-three-years-of-exploration-11706230337188.html