After farewell to mars helicopter: Ingenuity set to continue collecting data

NASA has bid farewell to the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, but has instructed it to continue collecting data that could potentially be downloaded at some point. This has now been announced by the US space agency. However, until that time comes, the signal received by Ingenuity on Tuesday was the last and was celebrated accordingly. Now that it has been confirmed that the small helicopter has installed its final software update and is functioning as expected, the team responsible for Ingenuity can now be disbanded. While the employees of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory can now turn their attention to other tasks, the work for Ingenuity is still not finished.

No break for the helicopter

Because there is no longer a radio link between Ingenuity and the Perseverance rover, the helicopter can no longer communicate with Earth, but this does not mean that it has to be switched off. Instead, those responsible have instructed the device to wake up once a day, switch on the computers and check the rest of the technology. It is also supposed to take a color photo of its surroundings and measure the temperature of the environment using the existing sensors. It has enough memory on board to store 20 years' worth of data. When humanity eventually returns to Ingenuity's final resting place in the Valinor Hills, the helicopter will be waiting there with a farewell gift, NASA explains.

Should the long-term data that Ingenuity collects actually be picked up by another aircraft, a rover or even humans, it could only help, says the team. It would be a unique long-term view of Martian weather and dust movements. While there are no plans to secure the data, Perseverance is depositing soil samples to be collected as part of the Mars Sample Return mission. In the not-too-distant future, a mission that could possibly establish a radio link should therefore take place at least in the vicinity of Ingenuity's location. Should Ingenuity fail due to a thick layer of dust on the solar panels, the data will remain stored, NASA assures us.

Mission completed after 72 flights

Ingenuity flew for the 72nd and final time on January 18. After the small aircraft ended the previous flight with an emergency landing, it was only supposed to fly upwards and not move sideways. As planned, the helicopter reached a height of 12 meters and then hovered for 4.5 seconds before beginning to descend again. Contact was then lost one meter above the ground and could only be re-established the next day. It then became clear that at least two rotor blades had touched the ground and were damaged. One was even flung away and has been lying several meters away ever since. The helicopter's mission was then terminated.

Ingenuity landed together with Perseverance at the beginning of 2021 and was only supposed to fly five times on the Red Planet. NASA also wanted to pave the way for follow-up missions. The helicopter was the first device to take off on another celestial body. Because it worked so well, it was allowed to accompany the main mission from then on. Ingenuity explored the area for Perseverance and flew ahead of the rover again and again. Unable to fly himself, he then helped to process the crash. If it actually continues to collect data for years to come, which may one day be recovered, the vehicle could once again exceed all expectations. In any case, the team has already expressed its thanks.

(mho)