NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced earlier this year that the incredible Mars helicopter was grounded for good after it suffered damage to its rotor blades. Although it cannot fly, the robot is still online, and the Ingenuity team has gathered to see it off as they initiated what may be the last data transmission. This marked the final time the team would work together to support the history-making aircraft.
JPL designed Ingenuity as a short-term technology demonstration that would ride to Mars with the Perseverance rover. When we talked to JPL's Adam Steltzner, he was adamant that the team did not expect Ingenuity to survive its first Martian winter, but it lasted over 1,000 Martian days and completed 72 flights. JPL was targeting just five flights in 30 days. The vehicle's amazing performance allowed the team to use it as a scout for Perseverance while also learning more about the mechanics of powered flight on Mars.
Ingenuity is designed from mostly off-the-shelf components, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 smartphone processor. It doesn't have enough power to beam data back to Earth, so it relays data to Perseverance first. The rover still has a lot of mission ahead of it and needs to move on. Before Perseverance left communication range, the team gathered for the last data downlink on April 16. This allowed them to get the helicopter's remaining data and check that its new software was working correctly.
The team sent a software update to Ingenuity after realizing that it would never fly again. It is now being set up as a stationary sensor platform that will collect data every day until it breaks down. "It is almost unbelievable that after over 1,000 Martian days on the surface, 72 flights, and one rough landing, she still has something to give," said Ingenuity team lead Josh Anderson.
JPL reports the new software is working as intended. Each day, Ingenuity will wake up, collect diagnostic data, take a photo of the surface, check the air temperature, and then go back to sleep. It won't be able to transmit this data to Earth as Perseverance will be out of range. Still, the team hopes that a future mission to the Valinor Hills region will be able to recover the helicopter and harvest its data. JPL estimates Ingenuity should have room for 20 years of daily check-ins. However, the vehicle's solar panels or batteries will probably fail long before that.
Before Perseverance heads toward the western limb of Jezero Crater, it snapped an image of Ingenuity—possibly the last one ever. The photo (above) shows Ingenuity perched atop dunes on the far right edge. Just left of center, you can see fragments of its rotor lost during the hard landing in January. This will be Ingenuity's final resting place now that the mission is well and truly over, but this little experiment may have changed how we explore other worlds during its time zipping around the Martian skies.
