Sad, After Three Years On Duty On Mars, NASA Ends Ingenuity Mission

Ingenuity on Mars (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA - Sad news came from the United States Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA). The state institution stated that the Ingenuity mission, a Mars helicopter, had ended.

NASA was forced to stop the Ingenuity program because the 72nd flight ended badly. The helicopter crashed after losing contact with its rover, Perseverance, which serves as a communication relay with a rotor plane.

'Flight 72. That's the last flight for Ingenuity, our Mars Helicopter. Ingenuity and his team proved that powered and controlled flights in other worlds can be done. Thank you Ingenuity, you can rest," NASA said.

After falling from a height of one meter, NASA got an image showing that some of the Ingenuity rotor blades were seriously damaged. As a result, Ingenuity will not be able to be flown back.

Although Ingenuity's mission has ended, NASA claims to be proud of the helicopter's achievements and performance. As the first aircraft capable of flying on the Red Planet, Ingenuity has paved the way for other space agencies.

The incredible helicopter flew higher and further than we ever imagined and helped NASA do its best, making impossible," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an official statement.

In line with Nelson's statement, the demonstration of Ingenuity technology is indeed going very well and beyond what NASA had previously imagined. Initially, this drone was assigned for 30 days to reach 5 flights.

However, Ingenuity and Perseverance's promising performance made its flight mission extended. Unfortunately, communication from these two technologies was cut off and made its mission had to end much sooner than imagined.

With the end of the Ingenuity mission, NASA will conduct the final test on the helicopter system. They will also secure the remaining image and data stored in Ingenuity's internal memory.