Ingenuity still "as good as new" after nearly a year on Mars

[Judi Lynn]

by Jeff Foust — March 12, 2022



Ingenuity, originally developed as a tech demo with a goal of up to five flights, has now flown 21 times and serves as a scout for the Perseverance rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS


WASHINGTON — After nearly a year of operations, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is still “as good as new” as it serves as a scout for the Perseverance rover.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced March 11 that Ingenuity completed its 21st flight on the planet, traveling 370 meters during the 129-second flight. The helicopter has now traveled more than 4.6 kilometers since its first flight in April 2021.

Ingenuity was developed as a technology demonstration, with an original plan of no more than five flights over a month. The excellent performance of the 1.8-kilogram helicopter, though, led NASA to extend its mission, using it as a scout to examine terrain ahead of the Perseverance rover that carried Ingenuity to Mars.

The information Ingenuity has provided has created some modest time savings for Perseverance. “It’s certainly shaved several sols, maybe a week, off of the time frame of the rover by having this advanced information,” said Matt Golombek, a senior research scientist at JPL who has been involved with Mars landers dating back to Mars Pathfinder, during a March 8 media briefing at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference. A sol is a Martian day, about 40 minutes longer than a terrestrial day.

More:
https://spacenews.com/ingenuity-still-as-good-as-new-after-nearly-a-year-on-mars/

[flying rabbit]

1. K&R for science!