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He showed the world that it was possible: powered flight on another planet. In total, the small helicopter flew 17 kilometers through the thin Martian atmosphere and reached a height of 24 meters, much further and higher than the engineers dared to dream. Ingenuity, the first (and so far only) helicopter on another planet, completed its final flight on January 18th. This marks the end of a historic NASA mission after three years.
One or more of Ingenuity’s rotors were damaged during its final landing, NASA said last week. The helicopter had sent a photo of the Martian soil showing its shadow towards Earth. It turned out that a quarter of the surface of the rotors had broken off. NASA engineers are still in contact with the helicopter, but it is permanently disabled.
The small test helicopter (49 centimeters high) was a real daredevil. The plan called for Ingenuity to operate five flights: there were 72 flights. It survived violent dust storms, a freezing Martian winter and a broken navigation sensor. “You may rest, but your legacy will continue to grow.” NASA said goodbye to X.
85 million dollars
“He did very well,” says planetary scientist Sebastiaan de Vet from TU Delft (not involved in Ingenuity). “We have a new way to study planets. Before Ingenuity, we always focused on carts.”
The helicopter (development costs around $85 million) took off to the Red Planet in the belly of the Mars rover Perseverance in the summer of 2020. About seven months later, they landed together in the 45-kilometer-large Jezero crater, north of the Martian equator. Water flowed there billions of years ago and perhaps there was microbial life there back then. The car-sized Mars rover will explore the crater at speeds of up to 0.14 kilometers per hour and search for traces of fossilized microbial life.
It took the helicopter about a week after landing to descend from Perseverance’s landing gear into the Martian sand. Perseverance then had to leave immediately so that the solar panels on the helicopter could receive the sun’s rays.
A day later, there was great relief among NASA engineers when it emerged that the helicopter had survived its first night alone. Temperatures in the crater can reach 90 degrees below zero at night, causing parts to crack and become damaged. It was now clear that the built-in heater, insulation and battery worked well.
NASA was really lucky on April 19, 2021. The helicopter was the first vehicle to perform powered flight on another planet. A video captured by Perseverance showed the box-shaped helicopter soaring, hovering for a moment and then landing gently on its feet in the Martian sand. Ingenuity had reached a height of three meters. NASA compared this achievement to that of the Wright brothers, who were the first people to leave Earth using motor power in 1903.
Explore
Flying on Mars is extremely difficult. There is less air on the planet for the helicopter to bump against (the density of Mars’ atmosphere is only one hundredth that of Earth). Ingenuity’s rotors therefore had to rotate at around 2,400 revolutions per minute. The Mars explorer’s wingspan was 1.2 meters from tip to tip. Following a command from Earth, the helicopter flew autonomously. Control from Earth was not possible because radio signals to and from Mars take about twenty minutes.
Ultimately, Ingenuity did more than just technology testing. De Vet: “After the first five test flights, we had a successful helicopter on Mars. The cool thing is that NASA engineers then decided to use it as a sort of scout for Perseverance.” Ingenuity flew ahead of the Mars rover to look from above for interesting places for Perseverance to study.
The helicopter also searched for obstacles such as large rocks or soft sand. The latter proved fatal for the Mars rover Spirit when its wheels got stuck in a pile of soft sand in 2009.
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The organization is now using the knowledge that NASA engineers have gained, such as the fact that simple lithium-ion batteries are okay for such helicopter missions, for new helicopters. The Americans are already busy building Dragonfly, a helicopter that will fly over Saturn’s moon Titan. Engineers are also already thinking about a helicopter that could fly to cliffs on Mars that other spacecraft can’t easily reach.
The Mars rover Perseverance is still driving around Mars, but from now on it has to do so without the help of Ingenuity. The helicopter now rests on an old river bed in the crater.
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