NASA: The Ingenuity Helicopter’s Mission Comes to an End
NASA has announced that the mission of the Ingenuity helicopter has come to an end on the surface of Mars.
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.
Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.
Nice job, little flying rover! Rest well.
Discussion 1 comment
From @astronomisty, The Little Copter that Could, memorialized in cross stitch with Oppy and the rest of the gang.
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