#Ingenuity Helicopter

[lonestarflight]

The Ingenuity Rover's Helicopter, nicknamed Ginny, is broken and alone

"In this most recent photo of Ingenuity, the dual-rotor 'copter can be seen motionless on a sandy dune in the background, as a barren, rocky Mars landscape fills the foreground.

The photo was taken on Feb. 4, 2024, at 1:05 p.m. local mean solar time, a little over two weeks since it suffered its mission-ending damage.

NASA and JPL's Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars as seen by the Perseverance rover's Mastcam-Z camera on Feb. 4, 2024.

Ingenuity suffered damage to its rotors during a flight on Jan. 18 as it made a landing on a featureless, "bland" patch of sandy Martian landscape. The helicopter usually makes use of landscape features such as rocks to help it navigate, but its 72nd flight found the drone without visual cues.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is still analyzing the damage to Ingenuity's blades, but regardless of what JPL finds, the helicopter's mission has officially come to an end now that it's no longer capable of flight.

Ingenuity landed alongside its robotic companion, the Perseverance rover, on Feb. 18, 2021. When it took to the Martian skies in April 2021, Ingenuity made history by conducting the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet.

The Ingenuity-Perseverance duo has been exploring an area known as Jezero Crater ever since, discovering signs of ancient bodies of water on the Red Planet that may have once harbored life billions of years ago. Ingenuity served as a scout for Perseverance, identifying areas of interest for the rover to explore.

In recent weeks as NASA and JPL have been coming to terms with the end of Ingenuity's groundbreaking mission, agency leaders have praised the helicopter and the teams behind it.

'We couldn't be prouder or happier with how our little baby has done,' said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity Project Manager at JPL, during a livestreamed tribute to the helicopter on Jan. 31. 'It's been the mission of a lifetime for all of us. And I wanted to say thank you to all of the people here that gave their weekends, their late nights. All the engineers, the aerodynamic scientists, the technicians who hand-crafted this aircraft.'

Tiffany Morgan, NASA's Mars Exploration Program Deputy Director, added that Ingenuity leaves behind a legacy that could pave the way for future aerial missions on other worlds.

This image, which shows the shadow of a damaged rotor on NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity, was taken after its 72nd and final flight on Jan. 18, 2024 on the Red Planet.

'The NASA JPL team didn't just demonstrate the technology, they demonstrated an approach that if we use in the future will really help us to explore other planets and be as awe-inspiring, as amazing, as Ingenuity has been,' Morgan said during the livestream.

NASA is already developing another drone destined for another world, the nuclear-powered Dragonfly, to someday explore Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The agency expects Dragonfly to launch no earlier than 2028."

[superbly-charging-at-78-percent]

i am unable to stop drawing them

[roversrovers]

[oldkitty]

Its mission may have ended with a broken rotor blade, but its legacy continues to fly on wards and upwards. RIP to the little helicopter that could.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

[incandescent-creativity]

NOOO rip the ingenuity helicopter you set so many world records 😭😭😭

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

After Three Years on Mars, NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Mission Ends

"The end of an era. One of its main rotor blades is damaged, and the helicopter will not fly again. While the helicopter remains upright and in communication with ground controllers, imagery of its Jan. 18 flight sent to Earth this week indicates one or more of its rotor blades sustained damage during landing and it is no longer capable of flight." #ThanksIngenuity #ThanksIngenuity

[stavee]

So long, Ingenuity!!! Perseverance loses a friend but you have us all invaluable data about the future of space travel.

[beegguardian]

Beagle's Space Weekly (Bulletin #3, The Almighty Speedrun Recap, April 17th-May 20th)

Hey, y’all! We’re back! Apologies about dropping out, there. I got a pretty nasty little cold that completely took me out and then finals happened. Now, though, with finals all done and me being firmly in summer break mode, I have more time to do this! So, let’s get a few highlights from the month I��ve been gone. HIGHLIGHTS Okay, highlights. Right after my last bulletin (oh, it’s been over a…

[nuttysaladtree]

Reminds me of the part of Andy Weir's The Martian when Mark Watney considers unearthing Opportunity...before deciding against it: "Besides, I've defiled enough future historical sites for now." Google Books preview won't give me a page number, but this is right before Sol 492.

(Neither Ingenuity nor Perseverance are in the novel on account of being launched about ten years after The Martian was first published.)

LOVE WINS???!?!??!?!

[tiny-space-whale]

Thank you, Ingenuity. We love you and we will remember you. Now rest.

[scifi4wifi]

NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Finally Grounded on Mars

NASA has achieved a groundbreaking milestone, demonstrating the feasibility of powered flight on Mars – an achievement comparable to the Wright brothers’ first controlled airplane flight on Earth. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has concluded its pioneering mission on the Red Planet after exceeding expectations with dozens more flights than originally planned. While remaining upright and…

[denimdepression]

GUYS

INGENUITY SURVIVED

[superbly-charging-at-78-percent]

can’t forget her sister

Perseverance Rover but she’s a girl

She is taking up all of the space in my brain right now

[mindblowingscience]

NASA's pioneering helicopter Ingenuity has made its final Mars flight. Ingenuity — the first-ever robot to ply the skies of an alien world — suffered rotor-blade damage during its most recent hop and "is no longer capable of flight," NASA announced today (Jan. 25). "The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to an end," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an agency statement. 

Continue Reading.

[oldkitty]

Celebrating just over 2 years of the Mars rover (Perseverance), that also brought the helicopter (Ingenuity), landing on Mars.

18 February 2021.

My favourite achievement of this amazing mission has been the first ever recording of sounds on Mars. You can hear that recording here:

Sounds of Mars - NASA Mars

[roversrovers]

Ingenuity retired on the 20th anniversary of Opportunity landing on Mars 🥲

two remarkable pieces of engineering that exceeded our expectations and yet still feel like they are gone too soon 🧡