NASA’s upcoming Mars Sample Return mission plan just received a glow-up: it will now carry a pair of twin helicopters, each capable of retrieving samples and delivering them to the ascent vehicle for return to Earth.
Continue reading “The Mars Sample Return Mission Will Take Two Helicopters to the Red Planet to Help Retrieve Samples”Ingenuity has Lost its Sense of Direction, but It’ll Keep on Flying

Things are getting challenging for the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars. The latest news from Håvard Grip, its chief pilot, is that the “Little Chopper that Could” has lost its sense of direction thanks to a failed instrument. Never mind that it was designed to make only a few flights, mostly in Mars spring. Or that it’s having a hard time staying warm now that winter is coming. Now, one of its navigation sensors, called an inclinometer, has stopped working. It’s not the end of the world, though. “A nonworking navigation sensor sounds like a big deal – and it is – but it’s not necessarily an end to our flying at Mars,” Grip wrote on the Mars Helicopter blog on June 6. It turns out that the controllers have options.
Continue reading “Ingenuity has Lost its Sense of Direction, but It’ll Keep on Flying”Martian Dust is Starting to Darken Ingenuity’s Solar Panels

Like every solar-panel-powered vehicle on Mars, maintaining electrical power always becomes an issue at some point in the mission. Last week, mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory lost contact with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. While they were able to re-establish communications, which is done through the Perseverance rover, engineers know that keeping Ingenuity’s batteries charged is going to be increasingly difficult as the dark winter is on the way to Jezero Crater.
Continue reading “Martian Dust is Starting to Darken Ingenuity’s Solar Panels”Ingenuity is now Scouting Ahead of Perseverance, Helping it Navigate Difficult Terrain

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is providing scientists a look at what is on the road ahead for the Perseverance rover. And acting as a scout, Ingenuity can tell the team what places to avoid, too.
Continue reading “Ingenuity is now Scouting Ahead of Perseverance, Helping it Navigate Difficult Terrain”Amazing! Ingenuity Helicopter Flies to the Perseverance Backshell and Parachute to See Them Close Up

You may recall we reported earlier this month that the Perseverance rover finally spotted its parachute and backshell off in the distance. This is the hardware that safely brought the rover to Mars surface on February 18, 2021.
But now, the incredible Ingenuity helicopter has snapped better images of those items, while it was hovering in the Martian air during its 26th flight.
And what a mess! The poor backshell crashed to the surface, splitting into pieces.
Continue reading “Amazing! Ingenuity Helicopter Flies to the Perseverance Backshell and Parachute to See Them Close Up”What a Feat! Ingenuity Photographed From Space
It seems like only months ago that the Perseverance Rover landed in Jezero Crater on Mars. But in fact, it’s been there longer than a year. Perseverance has had company during this time; its sidekick, the Ingenuity helicopter, completed 23 flights in Mars’ thin atmosphere so far.
The HiRISE camera on the MRO has captured an image of the rover and the tiny helicopter on Mars as it rests on the surface.
Continue reading “What a Feat! Ingenuity Photographed From Space”How Time Flies: Perseverance and Ingenuity Have Been on Mars for a Year
What a year it’s been — Earth year, that is!
The dramatic touchdown on Mars for the Perseverance rover and the stowaway Ingenuity helicopter on February 18, 2021 was a bright moment in a tumultuous year here on Earth. And even though the pandemic meant that many people were watching the event from home – even some of the Mars rover team – NASA made sure to share the event as widely as possible.
Here’s a video highlight of that day, with pictures and video from both planets, and watching it brings smiles, goosebumps tears of joy. Of course, the incredible video we received of the landing from from the rover itself – especially the sky-crane lowering Perseverance to the planet’s surface — is nothing short of stunning.
Continue reading “How Time Flies: Perseverance and Ingenuity Have Been on Mars for a Year”Glowing Helicopters on Mars

If the Ingenuity helicopter would fly at night on Mars, its very possible the whirring rotors would create enough static electricity in the extremely dry Martian atmosphere to cause the air around the craft to glow.
“The faint glow would be most visible during evening hours when the background sky is darker,” said William Farrell, from Goddard Space Flight Center and lead author of a paper on this topic. “NASA’s experimental Ingenuity helicopter does not fly during this time, but future drones could be cleared for evening flight and look for this glow.”
Continue reading “Glowing Helicopters on Mars”Bad Weather Postpones Ingenuity’s 19th Flight on Mars

The first flight of 2022 for the Ingenuity Helicopter has been delayed due to a regional dust storm on Mars. Mission planners had originally targeted January 5 for the tiny helicopter’s 19th flight, but they needed to push back the flight when orbital images and weather instruments on the Perseverance rover indicated a worsening weather situation.
Weather conditions have now improved, however, and the Ingenuity team anticipates the next flight will take place on Sunday, January 23.
Continue reading “Bad Weather Postpones Ingenuity’s 19th Flight on Mars”With 17 Flights Completed, Ingenuity has Spent 30 Minutes Aloft on Mars

December 17 is an historic day for flying machines, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we hear the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter makes an attempt at its 18th flight sometime today. In case you need a little reminder, on this day in 1903, the Wright Brothers had their first successful flight, flying their plane for exactly 120 feet over 12 seconds.
Ingenuity’s most recent flight came on December 5, 2021, its 17th. The fact that Ingenuity has this many flights under its wings, er… rotors…. is nothing short of amazing. The tiny helicopter was only designed for five flights on the Red Planet but now, with 17 successful liftoffs and landings, it has accumulated over 30 minutes of flying time on Mars.
Continue reading “With 17 Flights Completed, Ingenuity has Spent 30 Minutes Aloft on Mars”