The Ingenuity mission officially comes to an end, but not before mission scientists try to determine how much damage the helicopter sustained
January 31 NASA held a livestream to pay tribute to the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, which suffered rotor damage during its last flight. During the live broadcast, mission managers reported that all four blades were damaged during the rough landing.
Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity's project manager, said NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are still unsure what caused the damage to Ingenuity's blades. It remains unclear whether the helicopter lost power during its descent, causing it to crash, or whether it accidentally hit the Martian surface, causing a «power outage».
Tzanetos added that to determine the nature of Ingenuity's damage, mission engineers will slowly rotate the helicopter's blades and «wiggle» them or adjust their angle while recording video. This will allow the team to better understand the extent of the damage. However, Tzanetos noted, no matter what data is collected, Ingenuity has completed its mission and will not fly again.
«Such helicopters are not designed to fly even with the slightest imbalance, in the coming weeks our mission will end», — Tzanetos said during the live broadcast.
During a NASA livestream, mission leaders expressed their gratitude to Ingenuity for its significant contributions to Mars exploration. Tiffany Morgan, deputy director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said Ingenuity has been a valuable asset to the Perseverance rover since their parallel landing on February 18, 2021.
The helicopter was originally designed to perform only five flights — his mission ended after number 72.
Ingenuity exceeded all expectations, especially considering that its creation was based on commercial off-the-shelf cell phone components. Flying to another planet was a revolutionary idea. Morgan emphasized that the ability to fly through the thin Martian atmosphere is a major achievement for JPL and bodes well for future missions.
NASA is already considering the possibility of using similar helicopters on other planets, using the experience gained through Ingenuity. The organization's scientists and engineers expressed pride and gratitude to everyone who contributed their energy and effort to create this revolutionary Martian helicopter.
«The NASA JPL team didn't just demonstrate a technology, they demonstrated an approach that, if we use it in the future, will help us explore other planets and will be as impressive and amazing as Ingenuity» , — Morgan said.
«We are very proud and happy about the life our baby has lived. For all of us, this was a lifelong mission. I want to say thank you to everyone who dedicated their weekends and their nights to her. To all the engineers, scientists, technical specialists who created this helicopter», — said Tzanetos.