After the American space agency NASA lost contact with its mini helicopter ‘Ingenuity’ on Mars on Thursday, the all-clear was given again over the weekend. The technicians managed to restore connection with the aircraft.
“Good news today,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Saturday evening. “We have reestablished contact with the Mars helicopter.” Contact was lost during Ingenuity’s 72nd flight shortly before it landed.
Not for the first time lost contact
The Mars rover ‘Perseverance’ had previously been tasked to begin a long-term search for the signal from ‘Ingenuity’. “The team is studying the new data to better understand the unexpected communications outage during Flight 72,” NASA said. She had also lost contact with the mini-helicopter in the past – most recently for two whole months last year.
‘Ingenuity’ was aboard the rover ‘Perseverance’, which landed on the Red Planet in February 2021 – after 203 days of flight and 472 million kilometers traveled – in a risky maneuver in a dry Martian lake called Jezero Crater. The helicopter, which resembles a drone, is intended to support the rover as “aerial reconnaissance” in the search for signs of possible life on Mars.
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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