Shortly after the confirmation that the NASA Dragonfly mission will take place, the latest news relating to the Martian drone NASA Ingenuity. As we know the helicopter will no longer fly due to extensive damage to the blades, including the loss of one blade, but will still be used as if it were a “data recorder” of the Martian environment providing important information to both scientists and engineers who are developing the new generation of drones.
To transmit data the drone needs to stay within communication range of the NASA Perseverance rover as it cannot communicate directly with orbiters and the Deep Space Network. The rover, however, will have to continue its mission which is a priority and will therefore soon move away from the area where NASA Ingenuity it reclined during Flight 72.
As reported by JPL, the team of engineers responsible for managing the drone they gathered for the last time in the control room on April 16. We have repeated this several times over the months, NASA Ingenuity far exceeded initial expectations of completing five flights in thirty Martian days. Instead, the helicopter lasted for over a thousand Martian days, completing 72 flights.
Now, and for the next few years, the drone will rest at Valinor Hills, the area named in his honor. The engineers had sent an update in recent weeks with the new instructions. The helicopter will try to wake up every day by activating the flight computer, detect the battery charge status through the solar panel and collect temperature data. Some photographs will then be taken with the high resolution color camera so as to notice the smallest changes in the Martian regolith.
The unknown is mainly due to the dust that will gradually accumulate on the solar panel, limiting the battery charge. NASA Perseverance will return to the area only after some time and therefore it is not clear whether the rover will still be able to communicate with the drone (if the state of charge is too low it will turn on again).
When NASA Ingenuity could still fly the solar panel was cleaned constantly maintaining more than excellent performance considering that the project was designed to be even “economic”. We don’t know if it will just be a goodbye. It could also be a goodbye. Despite everything, the information collected has been and will be fundamental for the future of exploration. A great gift from Ingenuity to humanity.
Tags: latest data NASA Ingenuity drone downloaded goodbye
