ANTARIKSA – NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter suddenly failed to communicate. Ingenuity mission controllers lost contact with the 1.8-kilogram helicopter on Thursday, January 18, 2024, or Friday Indonesian time.
The first helicopter on another planet fell silent near the end of its 72nd flight to Mars. “Ingenuity data sent to the Perseverance rover (which serves as a link between the helicopter and Earth) during the flight shows that it successfully climbed to the specified maximum altitude of 12 meters,” NASA officials wrote in an update on Friday January. 19, 2024.
While descending from the flight, communications between the helicopter and Perseverance were lost shortly before landing. “The Ingenuity team is analyzing available data and considering next steps to re-establish communications with the helicopter.”
Ingenuity and Perseverance landed together in February 2021 on the floor of Mars’ 45-kilometer-wide Jezero Crater. The crater was home to a large lake and river delta billions of years ago.
Read also: Mexico entrusts 5 tiny robots with a pilgrim plane that will be sent to the Moon
The Perseverance robot searches for evidence of past Martian life and collects samples for future return to Earth. Currently, Ingenuity serves as a scout for Perseverance, which is the size of a car.
Initially, the main task was a technology demonstration campaign on five original flights in the spring of 2021. The main mission was already considered a success, namely that Mars was friendly to airplanes.
Ingenuity’s current situation means that Perseverance needs to return the favor to her partner. “Perseverance is not currently visible to Ingenuity, but the team may consider moving closer for a visual inspection,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managing the robot’s second mission, wrote on Friday.
Read also: All NASA robots shut down when Mars is engulfed by the sun
Ingenuity flew for more than 128 minutes and covered a total distance of 17.7 kilometers during 72 flights to Mars. In the current circumstances it is not yet clear whether this number will continue to increase. Source: Space.com
2024-01-20 15:07:00
#NASA #loses #contact #Ingenuity #helicopter #Mars