NASA Will Share Investigation Reports Regarding Ingenuity Helicopter Accidents On Mars

Ingenuity helicopters stranded on Mars (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA NASA almost completed an investigative report regarding the Ingenuity helicopter crash in January. The results of this investigation will be released in the coming weeks as a technical report.

Ingenuity was the first drone to operate on Mars, or even in a world other than Earth. The helicopter was designed with a five-flight target, but Ingenuity managed to surpass it. This spacecraft even operated for nearly three years.

There are many records that Ingenuity has achieved, including flying 30 times further than planned. Unfortunately, the official Ingenuity mission ended on January 18, 2024 after the helicopter landed without a plan that caused its wings to be damaged.

"The photos taken after the flight showed a navigational error that created a high horizontal speed upon landing. In the most likely scenario, a hard impact on the ripple slope caused Ingenuity to roll over and rotate," NASA explained.

This collision makes the rotor blades rotate faster than the specified limit so that all four points are broken. Ingenuity is now unable to move. Communication with the team on the ground has also been cut off so that no data can be shared directly to Earth.

"The damaged tissue causes excessive vibrations in the rotor system, tearing the remaining one blades off its roots and producing excessive power demands resulting in communication loss (between Ingenuity and the team on Earth)," NASA said.

Although the Ingenuity flight mission is over, this helicopter can still collect weather data every day. This data is shared to the Perseverance rover once a week so that the data can help with the next Mars exploration mission.

"Avionic data (which Ingenuity collected while on Mars) has proven useful for engineers working on aircraft designs and other vehicles for the Red Planet in the future," NASA explained.