NASA’s Mars drone is laid up (VIDEO)

The Ingenuity helicopter, previously rendered incapable of flight due to an unsuccessful landing, will be converted into a stationary scientific post that will continue to collect data autonomously.

The Ingenuity helicopter, previously rendered incapable of flight due to an unsuccessful landing, will be converted into a stationary scientific post that will continue to collect data autonomously. This was reported on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website.

Let us recall that at the end of January, the operators of the Ingenuity rotary-wing drone announced the completion of the mission. Ingenuity, which became the first helicopter to fly in the Martian atmosphere, suffered blade damage during its launch on January 18. The drone lost its ability to fly, but retained the ability to communicate with ground controllers.

The mission team later released a drone photo taken from afar by the Perseverance rover. The helicopter can be seen at the top of the photo, on top of one of the sand dunes. The Ingenuity team named this area the Hills of Valinor, following the fictional region from the fantasy novels of John R.R. Tolkien.

However, last week NASA engineers, despite the official completion of the mission, decided to continue its work. Now, following updating the software, Ingenuity will “wake up” daily, activate the on-board computer and check the operation of the solar panel, batteries and other elements of the device. The helicopter will photograph the surface with its color camera and collect temperature data from sensors installed on the vehicle.

NASA believes such data collection might be useful for designers of future Mars missions and, in theory, might help better understand the dynamics of local weather and other Martian processes.

However, over time, the drone will become autonomous. The fact is that communication with it is maintained through the Perseverance rover, which will leave the communication coverage area in the Valinor Hills and continue exploring the western part of the Jezero Crater. At the same time, the helicopter will continue to collect data even following losing contact with the rover.

Moreover, even if data collection stops or electronics fail (for example, due to dust accumulation on solar panels), any information already collected by Ingenuity will remain on board. The mission team estimated that the drone’s memory might store 20 years of daily data.

“Whenever humanity revisits the Hills of Valinor—whether by rover, craft, or landing future astronauts—Ingenuity will be waiting with its latest gift of data, its final evidence of why we dare to do great things,” said the project leader. Ingenuity Teddy Tzanetos from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “Thank you, Ingenuity, for inspiring a small group of people to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles at the frontiers of space.”

The mission team sent a message through the Perseverance rover’s transmitter to the drone with the names of the people working on the project. The helicopter sent the same message back to Earth as a symbolic farewell to its creators. Ingenuity arrived on Mars along with the Perseverance rover in February 2021. Since then, it has risen above the Martian surface 72 times and covered a total distance of 17 kilometers, rising to a maximum height of 24 meters.

Ingenuity spent over a thousand Martian days on the Red Planet, which is 33 times longer than the original mission plan.

Ingenuity became a pilot project for flights over the surface of Mars. Now the Ingenuity team plans to use his experience to develop future Martian helicopters – for example, for the Mars Science Helicopter under development.