NASA's 'History-Making' Mars Helicopter Mission Ends After 3 Years on The Red Planet

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter, which made history by achieving the first powered flight on another world, has ended its nearly three-year mission after surpassing expectations and making dozens more flights than planned.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the US space agency said the aircraft, which hitched a ride to the Red Planet under the belly of the Perseverance rover, first lifted off the surface on April 19, 2021. Originally intended only to prove flight was possible in the ultra-thin Martian atmosphere through five test runs, Ingenuity went on to be deployed a total of 72 times, logging more than two hours of flight time in short hops.

‘Historic journey’

Over an extended mission that lasted for almost 1,000 Martian days, more than 33 times longer than originally planned, Ingenuity was upgraded with the ability to autonomously choose landing sites in treacherous terrain, dealt with a dead sensor, cleaned itself after dust storms, operated from 48 different airfields, performed three emergency landings, and survived a frigid Martian winter, according to NASA.

“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to end,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a statement. “That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best – make the impossible, possible. Through missions like Ingenuity, NASA is paving the way for future flight in our solar system and smarter, safer human exploration to Mars and beyond.”

Its mission evolved to act as an aerial scout to assist its wheeled companion in searching for signs of ancient microbial life from billions of years ago when Mars was much wetter and warmer. Ingenuity’s longevity surpassed all expectations, defying challenges including dust storms, treacherous terrain, a dead sensor and frigid conditions. Designed to operate in springtime, its solar-powered heating system was unable to remain on throughout the night in winter, which led to the flight computer freezing over and forced engineers to devise new protocols.

“It is bittersweet that I must announce that Ingenuity, the little helicopter that could… has now taken its last flight on Mars,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson in a video message. “Like the Wright brothers, what they did back here on Earth at the early part of the last century, Ingenuity has paved the way for future flight in our solar system, and it’s leading the way for smarter, safer human missions to Mars and beyond.” While the helicopter, which weighs around two kilograms, remains upright and in communication with mission control, images from its last flight on January 18 indicate “one or more” of its rotor blades sustained damage during landing, meaning it is no longer capable of flight.

NASA unexpectedly lost and then reestablished contact following the final flight, though the relief for space enthusiasts turned out to be short-lived. Data showed that the helicopter achieved its planned maximum altitude of 12 meters and hovered there for 4.5 seconds. But the temporary blackout occurred just as it was on its way down to land, around three feet above the surface.

“Imagery revealing damage to the rotor blade arrived several days later. The cause of the communications dropout and the helicopter’s orientation at time of touchdown are still being investigated,” the statement said. The broken blade seems to have collided with the surface of Mars during landing, Ingenuity project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Teddy Tzanetos told reporters Thursday, cleaving off “the last 25 percent of the length” of the appendage.

“We’ve just lost a massive chunk of our thrust capacity,” he explained, adding “we will never know” whether the rotor strike or the communications loss came first. “Eventually… we will lose contact,” Tzanetos said, though it’s unclear whether that will happen within days or months. The lessons learned from Ingenuity will inform flight on Mars long into the future, according to Tzanetos. “None of us should be surprised in the future, when the first astronauts, the first women and men are on the surface (of Mars), and we have fleets of aircraft flying around,” he said.

(With agency inputs)