Chapter 5 of 5

A record for the future

The final flight, accident investigation and a planned stationary testbed

Told in Ingenuity’s imagined voice · the events are real · source

This image of the flight model of NASA's Mars Helicopter was taken on Feb.
IngenuityMy last flight ended on sand that was hard for my camera to read.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
01Flight 72 took place on January 18, 2024. Investigators identified too few surface features for navigation as the likely start of a chain of events ending in a hard landing and damaged rotors.
The broken blades ended my flying, not the questions people could ask.
02The team studied the returned measurements and pictures. Their most-likely scenario involved fast attitude changes overloading the rotor blades. They acknowledged that more than one scenario remained possible.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover in this image taken April 6, 2021, the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission by the WATSO
IngenuityMy team’s final shared shift checked a new job for my remaining equipment.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
03On April 16, 2024, a transmission confirmed a previously uploaded patch for stationary tests, temperature measurements and daily photos. Those commands were intended to keep collecting records after the rover moved out of radio range.
My next pages were a possibility—not a promise of twenty years.
04NASA calculated that my memory could potentially hold about twenty years of daily records. Power loss or electronics failure could stop collection sooner. We cannot claim what I am recording today without new evidence.

The big idea

A mission’s remaining hardware can be given a new purpose, but future capability is not proof of current operation.

Think about it

Why is storage capacity different from a guaranteed operating lifetime?

Fact file

Final flight
18 January 2024 / Flight 72
Flight ending and mission-end announcement on January 25 are different dates.
Source ↗
Flight record
72 flights / 128.8 minutes / 17.0 kilometers
NASA’s mission summary; distance is the flown path, not straight-line displacement.
Source ↗
Final team downlink
16 April 2024
Confirmed a previously uploaded stationary-testbed patch. This does not establish current activity in 2026.
Source ↗

In this chapter: Navigation camera, damaged rotors, solar power, onboard memory and Perseverance radio relay

Sources: Main record · Ingenuity’s Team Says Goodbye … for Now · Ingenuity Mars Helicopter · NASA Science

Machine illustration: AI-made. Photos: NASA Image and Video Library, credited on each picture.

Chapter 5 of 5

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