The Real Reason Behind the “Death” of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Has Been Revealed in a Photo Taken by Its Companion.
Recent issues with tilting landings have plagued several spacecraft, including Japan’s Slim Lander and Odysseus, which seems to have also affected the Ingenuity Mars helicopter.
Ingenuity is a small helicopter drone that landed alongside the Perseverance rover on Mars in February 2021.
Not only has Ingenuity lost one rotor blade, but it has completely lost another one – (Image: NASA).
Ingenuity serves as the “pathfinder” for Perseverance, which is larger, slower, and equipped with various scientific instruments. After exceeding expectations by completing its mission at the end of January this year, NASA continues to investigate the reasons behind this “immortal” helicopter’s sudden inactivity.
Previously, NASA believed that a damaged rotor blade – revealed through a self-taken image showing its shadow on the ground – was the cause of its malfunction.
It is possible that the helicopter fell freely from a height of approximately 1 meter during landing. With a damaged rotor, it could no longer fly.
This photo from January shows the shadow of a damaged rotor blade – (Image: NASA).
However, a new image sent back to Earth by Perseverance after its journey to find its companion indicates a more dire situation, according to Space.com.
In the photo, it is clear that Ingenuity has completely lost one of its four rotor blades.
NASA states that the most likely scenario is that the area where this helicopter landed for the last time was entirely sandy, lacking rocks, which would make it difficult for Ingenuity to orient itself.
The most significant possibility is that it did not properly identify the surface when landing. Some miscalculations by the small robot likely caused it to tilt towards the Martian surface, causing the rotor blades to strike the ground, resulting in one blade breaking and the other becoming damaged.
Although this is unfortunate news, Ingenuity has proven its exceptional capabilities by operating for two years on Mars, while initial expectations only anticipated it functioning well for 30 days.
Perseverance is currently operating alone in the Jezero Crater area – which was once a large lake and fertile river plain – but it will still benefit from Ingenuity’s legacy in its quest for signs of life.
Currently, another NASA lander, Curiosity, is also operational on Mars. Like Perseverance, Curiosity is a rover that landed in November 2011, and its original two-year mission has been “extended” indefinitely by NASA.
