NASA’s pioneering Mars helicopter Ingenuity took to the air for its final flight on January 18. The mini rotorcraft sustained damage to a rotor blade, bringing an end to an epic, overachieving mission. The Perseverance Mars rover captured a view of Ingenuity’s final resting place on February 4. It doesn’t answer all the questions about what happened during the flight, but it brings a sense of closure to a mission that captured the imagination of scientists and casual space fans alike.
Perseverance wasn’t within sight of Ingenuity when the rotorcraft was damaged, so the rover had to get into position to take the long-distance portrait. The image shows a field of scattered rocks in the foreground with a landscape of sweeping dunes in the distance. Ingenuity sits alone near the top of a dune, throwing a shadow off to the side.
Ingenuity is sitting upright. “Miraculously, this little aircraft is tougher still than we could have ever imagined,” said Ingenuity project manager Teddy Tzanetos during a tribute on January 31. The damage to the carbon-fiber blades likely came from striking the surface. The team is still working to understand how the damage happened.
The image isn’t a glamorous goodbye closeup. The helicopter is a speck against a broad vista. It’s a reminder of the realities of Mars exploration. The planet’s surface is cold, windy and dry. Robots eventually break down, get smothered by dust, get stuck or run out of energy.
The solar-powered helicopter was originally designed for a handful of flights, but it kept on flying, eventually racking up 72 flights with nearly 130 minutes of air time as it covered 11 miles of Mars. It all started back in April 2021 when the rotorcraft took a short flight and made history as the first example of powered, controlled flight on another planet.
Ingenuity’s blade damage on its final flight came as a surprise. The helicopter communicates through the Perseverance rover and briefly lost contact with its wheeled companion. Ingenuity later photographed shadows showing a ragged edge to the carbon-fiber blade. “We suspect based off the images we’ve seen so far that all four of the rotor blades are damaged,” said Tzanetos. While Ingenuity can still “talk” to the rover, it’s no longer able to take to the air.
Ingenuity leaves behind a remarkable legacy. It graduated from conducting test flights to becoming a scout for Perseverance. It captured aerial views of Mars that allowed the rover team to look for interesting areas for exploration and spot potential obstacles along Perseverance’s path. Ingenuity set the stage for a new generation of aerial robotic explorers. NASA has proposed including two helicopters in a future Mars Sample Return mission. The small choppers could help could pick up rock samples left by the Perseverance rover on the planet’s surface.
Perseverance’s distant view of Ingenuity won’t be the last we see of the helicopter. The Ingenuity team intends to capture video of the helicopter wiggling and rotating its blades to better understand the extent of the damage. It’s essentially a postmortem for the rotorcraft, which lived an exceptional life on a planet known for chewing up robots.
