It was only intended for a demonstration flight. Ultimately, NASA’s small Ingenuity helicopter will have taken off 72 times from the red surface of Mars. Arriving on our neighbor at the same time as the Perseverance rover (February 18, 2021), the small helicopter was to demonstrate that it is possible to fly in the thin atmosphere of Mars. A historic first and a real technical challenge.
Managing to master the thin and dusty Martian atmosphere, Ingenuity was able to take aerial photos of it. Behind their intrinsic beauty, they are a real gold mine for NASA scientists. The mission was such a success that the flights multiplied, until January 18, 2024. 2 years and 9 months after its first flight, which occurred on April 19, 2021, the helicopter was damaged during its return to the ground.
In a report published this week, JPL (the branch of NASA in charge of this mission) discusses the reasons which led to this crash. During this 72nd and final mission, the small helicopter rose 12 meters from the ground. But after 32 seconds of flight, communications were suddenly cut off.
In his report, Håvard Grig, pilot of Ingenuity, explains that a hypothesis caught his attention during this long investigative work. For him it was the “lack of data on the textures of the Martian soil” which led to the accident. To understand these words, you have to look at how Ingenuity’s flights took place.
Blind flights
Due to the distance between Earth and Mars (and the time it takes for information to travel through space), it is impossible to direct Ingenuity “live”. The flight instructions are therefore established in advance, then everything happens blindly. On Earth, engineers only receive lines of data, indicating whether or not everything is going as they planned.
Ingenuity therefore flies according to the commands it has received, but also thanks to the numerous information provided by its sensors. During this 72nd flight, one of them ordered him to land urgently. But the small helicopter’s miscalculations caused it to land too quickly, leading to its accident.
“Too high horizontal speed” caused the helicopter to capsize. When it hit the ground violently, one of the blades of the device broke. Although he can no longer fly, Ingenuity is not trash. NASA has also praised his work in recent months.
Its sensors still work perfectly. They are capable of measuring Martian weather conditions. Very valuable information, which helps NASA in moving the Perseverance rover.
Ingenuity 2: already in the works
The success of this side project within NASA’s “Mars 2020” mission seems to have given ideas to several engineers. A new helicopter concept is reportedly under development in Houston. It would be 20 times heavier (36 kilograms) and would fly 3 kilometers per day.
For Teddy Tzanetos, head of the Ingenuity project (first of the name), this demonstration of force also brings to the forefront questions about the design of the next Martian devices. Without special protection against radiation, Ingenuity was able to work for almost 4 years. As a processor, the NASA teams used commercially available cell phone chips.
Proof that to achieve great things “ not everything needs to be bigger, heavier and radiation-enhanced to work in the harsh Martian environment” concludes Teddy Tzanetos in his report.
