Mars Ingenuity helicopter will be useful to NASA on the red planet even after dying

Nasa Ingenuity Mars: American space agency NASA’s Mars helicopter ‘Ingenuity’ will never be able to fly again. On January 18 this year, ‘Ingenuity’ made its 72nd flight to Mars. It was a short vertical flight. During the flight, ‘Ingenuity’ lost contact with the Perseverance Rover present there. ‘Ingenuity’ fell rapidly and was damaged. The NASA team on Earth met for the last time on ‘Ingenuity’ on Tuesday 16 April. The response from NASA shows that scientists have said the last goodbye to this rotorcraft.

‘Ingenuity’ was the first rotorcraft to fly on a planet outside Earth. After its damage, a meeting was held in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) control room on Tuesday. Report According to , this meeting took place about three months after the last flight of ‘Ingenuity’.

Josh Anderson, head of the Ingenuity team at JPL, said in a statement that it is incredible that after more than 1,000 Mars days on the surface, 72 flybys and one hard landing, it still has something to offer. Thank you for this dedication. Ingenuity not only exceeded our expectations, but it may also teach us new lessons in the years to come.

It is noteworthy that despite being damaged, this rotorcraft is still alive as a weather station. Ingenuity landed on Mars in February 2021. On April 19 of the same year, he made his first flight in the ‘Red Planet’. Whatever data the Perseverance team received from the Ingenuity helicopter, its assessment can be helpful for future Mars missions.

It is difficult for any rotorcraft to fly on Mars because the gravity there is one-third less than on Earth. But Ingenuity did its job well. In his 72 flights, he flew over the planet for a total of 129 minutes and covered an area of ​​17 kilometers. This was 14 times more than the expectations of scientists.