It appears the bland Martian surface triggered a chain of events that left NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter permanently grounded on the red planet.
After re-establishing contact, it soon became clear Ingenuity would not be flying again – the rotor blades were damaged, and one was entirely detached.
It was only designed for five flights, but the helicopter was on flight 72 when the accident happened.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to eject hundreds more workers Mars helicopter sends final message, but will keep collecting data WATSON picks up slack on Mars for SHERLOC as Perseverance gadgets show age Mars Helicopter Ingenuity will fly no more, but is still standing upright It is a remarkable feat of engineering, considering the helicopter was built to be affordable and use off-the-shelf components where possible.
Tzanetos said: “Ingenuity has given us the confidence and data to envision the future of flight at Mars.”
It seems that a series of events led to NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter being permanently grounded on the red planet due to the uninteresting Martian surface.
When Flight 72 was canceled earlier this year and communications were momentarily lost, the helicopter’s flying career came to an abrupt end. The rotor blades were damaged, and one was completely detached, so it was quickly apparent that Ingenuity would not be flying again after contact was restored.
It was widely believed at the time that the flight ended when Ingenuity’s downward-facing camera was unable to detect surface features. This is still the most plausible explanation for what set off a series of events that rendered the helicopter disabled, according to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
It is challenging to conduct an air crash investigation from hundreds of millions of kilometers away. There are no brightly colored black boxes to provide hints about what transpired in the last few minutes of the flight, it is impossible to lay hands on the wreckage, and there are probably no witnesses.
But there is telemetry. About 20 seconds after takeoff, Ingenuity’s navigation system was unable to locate enough surface features to track, according to data transmitted during the final flight. Instead of the steep, featureless sand ripples where it finally perished, it was made to function over textured, level terrain.
“Photographs taken after the flight indicate the navigation errors created high horizontal velocities at touchdown,” JPL said. The most likely scenario, according to engineers, is that Ingenuity landed hard on the sand ripple’s slope. All four rotor blades broke at their weakest point as a result of the abrupt pitch and roll, which put excessive strain on them beyond their design limits. One blade was completely torn off due to vibration in the rotor system caused by the damage.
The team was unable to communicate because of the high power consumption.
The remarkable length of Ingenuity’s mission is evidence of how far engineers can push the boundaries. The helicopter was on flight 72 when the accident occurred, even though it was only intended for five flights.
Hundreds more employees will be ejected from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Mars helicopter will continue to gather data even after sending the last message.
On Mars, Watson takes over for SHERLOC as Perseverance devices age.
Although it will no longer fly, Mars Helicopter Ingenuity remains upright.
Considering that the helicopter was designed to be inexpensive and to use off-the-shelf parts wherever possible, it is an impressive engineering achievement.
“We became the first mission to fly commercial off-the-shelf cellphone processors in deep space,” announced Teddy Tzanetos, project manager for Ingenuity. As we approach four years of nonstop operations, it becomes clear that not everything must be larger, heavier, and radiation-hardened in order to function in the hostile Martian environment. “..”.
Even though it will never fly again, the helicopter has been sending weekly weather and avionics test data to the Perseverance rover.
Ingenuity follow-ups are being worked on by engineers. Tzanetos gave information about the Mars Chopper rotorcraft, which would weigh about 20 times as much as Ingenuity and be able to fly scientific instruments over Mars while traveling up to two miles on its own each day, during the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
Tzanetos stated: “We have the data and confidence to imagine the future of flight at Mars thanks to ingenuity. ®.
