NASA’s helicopter on Mars, called Ingenuity, completes its historic mission

His name was Ingenuity. NASA announced on Thursday, January 25, the end of the mission of its small helicopter on Mars, after it damaged at least one of its rotor blades during its 72nd and final flight. “What Ingenuity has accomplished is far beyond what we thought possible”, underlined the head of NASA in a video. Bill Nelson believes that the helicopter “paved the way for future flights in our solar system”.

In 2021, Ingenuity became the first motorized device to fly on another planet. During its 72nd flight, the helicopter reached an altitude of 12 meters, but communication was abruptly interrupted shortly before landing. It was finally able to be restored but NASA teams were able to observe damage to a rotor blade a few days later. “We are studying the possibility that the blade could have hit the ground”said Bill Nelson.

The helicopter is now “no longer able to fly”, confirmed NASA, which specifies that the causes of the interruption of communications have still been studied. Ingenuity was originally only scheduled to take off five times. In total, the helicopter traveled some 17 kilometers and flew to an altitude of 24 meters. He had arrived on Mars with the Perseverance rover, whose mission is to find traces of ancient microbial life on Mars. Its longevity is remarkable, especially knowing that it had to survive freezing Martian nights, warming itself thanks to solar panels charging its batteries during the day.