Every pioneering effort starts small – in this case, literally. Can you see the Ingenuity helicopter in the graphic below the big rover? The Perseverance rover carried the small aircraft under its belly for protection during landing and then deposited it on the Martian soil. (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The Ingenuity helicopter is the flying one Sidekick
of the Mars rover Perseverance and has been participating in NASA exploration missions since 2021. He took photos of the red dunes and mapped various locations from the air for the team of scientists. So he was something like the flying eyes of researchers.
Now he has lost his ability to fly in a landing accident and will probably never take off again. But what sounds like a tragic end is actually just the last milestone on a long journey.
Because the lifespan of this helicopter is a small miracle and its long trip to Mars shouldn’t have happened in the first place. More on that in a moment.
A Pioneer’s Last Journey
In early 2024, the Mars helicopter should take off in a vertical trajectory and land again later. It was his 72nd flight and everything seemed as usual.
But one meter above the ground the contact suddenly breaks off and a little later a shadow image confirmed the NASA researchers’ fears: At least one tip of the rotor blades is damaged:
The shadow gives certainty: the tip of one of the rotors has broken off. (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
▶ The sobering diagnosis: Ingenuity will probably never be able to fly again. After 3 years of life and 129 minutes flown, it’s finally over. The solar-powered helicopter covered an incredible 17 kilometers during this time.
▶ The last (crash) landing on a long journey: Only a handful of flights and a maximum lifespan of 30 days were planned.
This goal has already been exceeded many times over and, without an accident, would probably only have continued like this for a few more weeks or months. NASA researchers repeatedly reported problems – so an imminent end was in sight.
A milestone in flight history
It is the first aircraft to perform controlled, powered flight on another planet. A feat that has been called the Wright Brothers moment.
NASA
This is how NASA describes its project on the website. The helicopter landed as a little brother together with Rover Perseverance.
▶ His task: Be a flying lookout for the researchers. Using aerial photos, better routes for the ground vehicle could be planned. But independent explorations were also part of his area of responsibility.
By the way, this is what the cover photo looks like in the red reality when the two NASA vehicles pose next to each other in the Martian desert:
A real selfie from Mars: Can you spot the small Ingenuity helicopter to the left of the Perseverance rover? (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The helicopter is a small sensation in itself. The Martian atmosphere is only 1 percent as dense as Earth’s. The Ingenuity’s rotors have to rotate much faster so that the helicopter can fly at all.
Worth knowing: Ingenuity’s rotor speed is loud daily News 2537 revolutions pro Minute. For comparison: rotors of helicopters on Earth rotate at a maximum of 660 revolutions per minute.
A long journey through the inhospitable Martian desert
As mentioned above, Ingenuity was intended to survive on Mars for a maximum of 30 days, carrying out a handful of test flights. The conditions on Mars are extreme – at night it gets up to minus 90 degrees called. Not a good environment for a battery-powered helicopter.
But one test flight turned into a second and one success surpassed the next. Here you can see the complete itinerary of the Ingenuity. The aircraft covered a total of 17 kilometers in these 3 years:
Google Earth? Wrong, more like NASA Mars: Here you can see Ingenuity’s travel route in detail. (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Future successors to the Ingenuity helicopter
30 days turned into 3 years full of insights for future flight missions on foreign planets – and there are already some ideas about possible successors.
▶ Mars plane instead of helicopter: The Magazine t3n For example, reported on the concept of a solar-powered aircraft called MAGGIE, which can take off and land vertically and fly 179 km on a single battery charge.
▶ Titan: There is also a plan for another helicopter. The Dragonfly According to NASA, it should start in 2028 at the earliest – but not towards Mars, but Saturn! More specifically, Saturn’s moon Titan will be NASA’s new flight target.
Who would have thought that such a small helicopter would follow in the pioneering footsteps of our aviation history just 120 years after the Wright brothers. Not on Earth, but in the dusty deserts of our red neighboring planet.
So we can be more than excited to see which flying machines will fly in the atmospheres of Mars, the moon Titan or other planets in the future.
Until then, it’s probably a matter of tapping your foot impatiently and reciting a famous action figure in your head: To infinity and beyond – To infinity and beyond!
What do you think about this Mars helicopter? Did you have him on your radar? Do you have any ideas about where and what such future flying machines could best be used for? Do you think it will make future missions easier if efficient drones accompany the rovers? Feel free to write us your thoughts in the comments and discuss what advantages this technology brings when exploring foreign planets.
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