For several days, the American space agency failed to contact its Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, raising fears of a serious incident. The minicopter has since been successfully contacted again. NASA is now trying to find out what happened.
The weekend was not easy for the team responsible for Ingenuity. The small helicopter sent to Mars with the Mars 2020 mission experienced a few days of uncertainty, due to a momentary and premature loss of communications. The machine was then making its 72nd flight — already! — January 18, 2024.
At the time, we learned that the interruption of contact with Ingenuity took place at the time of its descent. “ This was a quick vertical flight to check the helicopter’s systems, after an unplanned early landing on the previous flight », Specified NASA in a progress update on January 19.
On the red planet, the minicopter uses Perseverance, the NASA rover delivered with the Mars 2020 mission, to communicate with the satellites on site, then the Earth. With one difficulty: the distance between the two planets is so great that connections sometimes take 20 minutes to travel through space, which lengthens the slightest operation.
The rover is a key link for maintaining contact with Ingenuity, but also for considering a visual analysis. Moreover, the American space agency has indicated on Jan. 20 that consideration was given to moving the rover for a helicopter inspection — it is currently out of sight. This scenario, however, was not helpful.
A helicopter on Mars that exceeded all expectations
In a new waypoint On the 21st, NASA gave positive news from Ingenuity. “ We re-established contact with the Mars helicopter after asking Perseverance to conduct long-duration listening sessions for Ingenuity’s signal ”, it is indicated. The investigation continues to find out the reasons for this signal cutoff.
The condition of the helicopter is not mentioned in the latest message from NASA. Its 72nd mission included a rise to an altitude of 12 meters above the ground. It is also not yet specified at what height the craft lost communication and whether this had any consequences on its landing operations.
Ingenuity went far beyond the space agency’s expectations. He was expected to perform five aerial maneuvers at first. The first flight took place on April 19, 2021. Since then, NASA has continued to reschedule more, given the good performance of the machine. It remains to be seen how long he can keep up the pace. In the meantime, this provides valuable data for NASA.
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