NASA’s robot helicopter Ingenuity will no longer be able to fly on Mars due to a critical malfunction. According to the official, the plane’s main rotor was damaged during the last flight. Web site NASA.
“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first helicopter on another planet, has come to an end,” said Bill Nelson, head of the space agency.
During its 72nd flight on January 18, communication with Ingenuity was lost. The team was able to re-establish contact with the drone by moving the Perseverance wheeled rover into its final position.
Images taken from the helicopter’s cameras showed that one or more rotor blades were broken. The device may have been damaged during descent.
Ingenuity and Preservation will land on the surface of Mars in 2021. The helicopter was originally designed for only five flights and its mission was only supposed to last 30 days. However, the drone completed almost 15 times more missions than expected during its stay on the red planet, spending 129 minutes in the air and covering a total of 17.7 kilometers.
In the future, NASA plans to send two more machines of the same type as Ingenuity to Mars.
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