A chill went through the spaceflight community last week as NASA reported that it had lost contact with the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. Delivered to Mars underneath the Perseverance rover and intended as a 5-flight 30-sol tech demo, it had vastly exceeded expectations, including the first successful powered flight off Earth, a true Wright brothers moment, and more than two hours cumulative flying time in 72 flights over 1000 sols.
Although Perseverance (nicknamed Percy) was able to reestablish communication with Ingenuity (nicknamed Ginny), NASA reports today that one of Ginny’s rotors is broken, and the first Mars helicopter will not fly again. Like the Apollo 11 lunar lander Eagle, Ginny carries a swatch from the original Wright flyer, and just last month the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum added one of Ginny’s prototypes to its collection.
Flying Ingenuity helicopter photographs grounded Perseverance rover (left) and vice versa (right) — on Mars! (NASA photos.)
Ginny and Percy selfie. (NASA photo.)
