Broken propeller and mission over. What happened to the Martian helicopter

Space mission ended ahead of schedule for the Mars Helicopter Scout helicopter-drone, more commonly known as Ingenuity. The little device, which he should have continued to explore Mars, has in fact suffered serious damage that …

Jack Williams

Written by: Jack Williams

Published on:

Broken propeller and mission over. What happened to the Martian helicopter

Space mission ended ahead of schedule for the Mars Helicopter Scout helicopter-drone, more commonly known as Ingenuity. The little device, which he should have continued to explore Mars, has in fact suffered serious damage that would prevent its functioning. NASA itself broke the news, which disappointed many fans of the Red Planet. Apparently some of the drone’s propellers were destroyed after a recent landing, and it was impossible to repair from Earth.

Ingenuity’s mission

This concludes the mission of the Ingenuity drone, which arrived on Mars in February 2021, after a 7-minute fall. Part of the mission of NASA renamed Mars 2020, Ingenuity was launched on July 30, 2020, traveled inside the Perseverance rover and landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. With it it had a fragment of the wing of the airplane on which the famous Wright brothers flew, the Flyer I .

The drone was supposed to demonstrate that it is possible to fly to the Red Planet, and so it did. 5 successful test flights were carried out, so NASA decided to use it for theaerial exploration of the celestial body.

The first problems occurred during flight number 71, which took place on January 6th. Ingenuity had to make an emergency landing. Unfortunately, on the 72nd flight, the end. In fact, last January 18, 2024, after rising to a height of 12 meters above the ground for about 4 seconds, the drone crashed, losing control of the Perseverance rover, which allows radio connection with the Earth. In the fall, Ingenuity suffered damage to one, if not two, of its blades propellers. The exact causes are yet to be established.

Given the situation, NASA could not help but declare concluded the mission after 3 years. The drone stopped flying after completing 72 flights, reaching a maximum altitude of 24 meters and traveling a total of 17 km.

The development of new devices

Ingenuity’s mission may be over, but its “legacy” will continue. In these days, in fact, the technicians who followed his developments will collect all the possible data and these will be used in the creation of new drones and small helicopters which will in turn be used for missions in the space.

Jack Williams

Jack Williams

Jack Williams established himself as the editor-in-chief of The Vermilion with rigorous journalistic traits and an incessant quest for truth. His career began as an investigative reporter, where he quickly gained a reputation for his in-depth research and insightful articles. Williams takes his role at The Vermilion very seriously. Since he became editor-in-chief, he has set an editorial line based on impartiality, factual accuracy, and context relevance; this has established The Vermilion as a reference for political, economic, and global news. Under his leadership, the media continues its mission of reporting news with accuracy and equanimity, giving a voice to those who are often overlooked by large-scale media. Jack dedicates himself to fulfilling this mandate with passion, rigour, and unwavering determination.

Previous

Smartphones, dead batteries due to the cold: why it happens and how to avoid it

Next

In the UK, lockdowns have caused childhood obesity to skyrocket