The American space agency NASA has lost contact with its mini helicopter ‘Ingenuity’ on Mars. Now we wonder what the reason is and how we can restore the connection.
The Mars rover ‘Perseverance’ suddenly lost contact with the aircraft on Thursday, NASA said on Friday evening (local time). Engineers tried to reconnect.
Look for signs of life
The drone-like helicopter landed on the Red Planet in February 2021 together with the rover ‘Perseverance’ and is intended to support it as ‘aerial reconnaissance’ in the search for signs of possible life on Mars. “Perseverance” sends the data collected by the helicopter to Earth.
The helicopter took off on its 72nd flight on Thursday, but lost contact with the rover shortly before landing.
NASA said online that the rover was out of sight of the helicopter, but the team considered moving closer for a visual inspection. US authorities had lost contact with ‘Ingenuity’ in the past, most recently for two whole months last year.
Mission already amply achieved
The original goal of the helicopter, which weighs just 1.8 kilograms, was to perform 50 flights on Mars within 30 days. It has already far exceeded this: in total, “Ingenuity” has already traveled more than 17 kilometers and reached heights of up to 24 meters.
Source: Krone
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