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NASA has determined the reason why the first ever spacecraft that ended up on another planet crashed during the 72nd flight to Mars.
The first-ever Mars helicopter, called Ingenuity, crashed on the Red Planet in January 2024. This happened after almost three years of work on Mars. The main purpose of the Ingenuity helicopter was to prove that flights in the very thin atmosphere of Mars are possible. After the crash, the helicopter did not completely fail, but only damaged its main rotors. As reported in NASA, the aircraft will still be able to serve as a weather station Space.
The Ingenuity helicopter was created to test whether such aircraft could fly in the Martian atmosphere, which is only 1% denser than Earth's. NASA's helicopter arrived on Mars in early 2021 with the Perseverance rover and made its first flight in April of that year.
Initially, NASA scientists expected Ingenuity to make only 5 flights in 30 days, but it ended up making 72 flights in almost 3 years and covered a total distance of almost 18 km on Mars. On January 18, 2024, the Martian helicopter made its final flight and crashed, although it appeared to be undamaged. Only the blades of its main propeller were damaged. NASA has completed the investigation of the incident and provided its results.
As NASA scientists reported, during the 70th flight, the Ingenuity navigation system failed for the first time. Then, on Flight 71, problems with the navigation system caused the helicopter to make an emergency landing and a hard landing. When the aircraft took off for the 72nd time, it rose only to a height of 12 meters, hovered in the air for 4,5 seconds, and then fell. As a result of the fall, part of one of the rotor blades flew 15 meters away. The rest of the blades were badly damaged. NASA had little data to explain what happened.
At first, scientists assumed that the propeller blades directly hit the surface of Mars. But the investigation showed another reason. NASA believes that the blades failed to withstand the heavy load when they bent during a hard landing on the surface of Mars. That is, the tips of the propeller blades touched the surface, and therefore bent. And the disaster itself occurred as a result of a repeated malfunction of the Ingenuity navigation system, and therefore he was unable to properly orient himself on the terrain and fell.
The Ingenuity helicopter is permanently stuck on the surface of the Red Planet, but it is not dead, because its instruments and battery are working. NASA said that the helicopter now works as a weather station and collects environmental data every day and uploads it to the on-board computer. According to scientists, in this way the Martian helicopter will be able to work for another 20 years.
NASA also announced that they are already working on a next-generation spacecraft that will be sent to Mars, and presented a video showing the device called the Mars Chopper.
It is not yet known exactly when it will be sent to Mars, but this device will have not one, but six main rotors, will be heavier than Ingenuity and will be able to carry more scientific instruments. It is assumed that the new Mars Chopper helicopter will be able to make daily flights on Mars, while covering 3 km per day.
