The first vehicle to achieve powered flight on another planet has completed its mission after suffering rotor damage, Nasa announced on Friday.
The Ingenuity helicopter, which arrived on Mars in February 2021, performed 72 flights and flew more than 14 times farther than originally planned.
However, the aircraft was forced to perform an “emergency landing” on Thursday that damaged its rotors and made it “no longer capable of flight”, the space agency said.
Nasa’s Bill Nelson praised the helicopter as “the little helicopter that could” and said it had “paved the way for future flight in our Solar System”.
A remarkable achievement by Nasa
Nasa had designed Ingenuity as a short technology demonstration to prove that flight was possible in the ultra-thin Martian atmosphere, which is only 1% as dense as Earth’s.
The vehicle, which weighs only 1.8kg, was carried to the Red Planet by the Perseverance rover, which landed in Jezero Crater, a former lakebed.
The helicopter made its first flight on April 19, 2021, becoming the first aircraft to fly on another world. It rose to a height of 3m, hovered for 30 seconds, and then landed safely.
The helicopter went on to perform more challenging flights, reaching altitudes of up to 10m and distances of up to 625m. It also demonstrated its ability to scout ahead for the rover and take high-resolution images of the Martian surface.
The helicopter exceeded all expectations and outlived its planned lifespan of 30 days by more than two years.
A promising future
Ingenuity’s success has opened up new possibilities for exploring other planets with aerial vehicles.
Nasa is already planning to send a larger and more capable helicopter, called Dragonfly, to Saturn’s moon Titan in 2027. Titan has a thick atmosphere and a rich chemistry that could support life.
Nasa said Ingenuity had “helped Nasa do what we do best – make the impossible, possible”.
The space agency said it would continue to monitor the helicopter’s status and investigate the circumstances of its final flight.