NASA’s JPL team said goodbye to the Ingenuity Mars helicopter on April 16, and it’s ready to begin its next mission, serving as a stationary test bed, collecting data that could benefit future explorers of the Red Planet.
Ingenuity was initially scheduled to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, but it managed to fly more than 14 times further than expected, logging more than 2-hours of total flight time. Its mission ended after experiencing a hard landing on its last flight, significantly damaging its rotor blades.
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With apologies to Dylan Thomas, Ingenuity will not be going gently into that good Martian night. 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. And thanks to the dedication of this amazing team, not only did Ingenuity overachieve beyond our wildest dreams, but also it may teach us new lessons in the years to come,” said Josh Anderson, Ingenuity team lead at JPL.
