After 63 Days Of Sleep On Mars, Ingenuity Helicopter Finally Builds

Ingenuity Helicopter (NASA DOK)

JAKARTA - For more than two months lost contact with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) mission controller, NASA on Earth, finally the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars reconnected.

Launched in 2020, Ingenuity lost contact on April 26 when a helicopter descended to the surface to land on its 52nd Flight in Jezero Crater, Mars.

The purpose of Flight 52 is to change the position of the helicopter and take pictures of the Martian surface for the Perseverance rover team. The flight took 139 seconds with a distance of 363 meters.

It is estimated that communication was cut off because there was a hill standing between the helicopter landing site and the Perseverance position, blocking communication between the two.

It is known, Perseverance acts as a radio relay between helicopters and mission controllers at NASA's JPL. To anticipate the loss of this communication, the Ingenuity team has developed a re-contact plan when the rover is returning within reach.

Contacts were then re-established on June 28 when Perseverance climbed the hill and could see Ingenuity again.

The Jezero Crater part that is being explored by explorers and helicopters has a lot of steep terrain, which makes communication breaking more likely, said Ingenuity team leader Josh Anderson of JPL in his official statement, quoted Saturday, July 1.

The goal of the team is to maintain Ingenuity in front of Perseverance, which sometimes involves a temporary push beyond the communication limit. We are pleased to be able to return to communication with Ingenuity and receive confirmation of Flight 52," he added.

After reconnecting, the team then checked the condition of Ingenuity which showed the helicopter was in good condition.

If nothing gets in the way, Ingenuity is claimed to be able to fly again in the next few weeks which will be Flight 53.

The flight site was planned by the team just west of Mars, they plan to make another west flight to a new base of operation near the rocky opportunity Perseverance wants to explore.