After crashing on Mars, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter could live on as a weather station for 20 years (maybe not)

Brett Tingley
Wed, December 11, 2024 at 11:20 AM CST
4 min read

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) gave an update on the downed Ingenuity Mars helicopter on Wednesday (Dec. 11) during the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Washington, D.C. After traveling to Mars attached to the Perseverance rover, Ingenuity began a test flight campaign to prove that powered flight in the thin Martian atmosphere was possible. After almost three years of operating on the Red Planet, Ingenuity crashed during its 72nd flight on Jan. 18, 2024, suffering rotor damage that rendered it incapable of ever flying again.

But after conducting the "first aircraft investigation on another world," Ingenuity's mission managers at JPL say the helicopter could have a second life on the Red Planet. "We are very proud to report that, even after the hard landing in flight, 72 avionics battery sensors have all been functional, and she still has one final gift for us, which is that she's now going to continue on as a weather station of sorts, recording telemetry, taking images every single sol and storing them on board," said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity's project manager at JPL, during the team's presentation at AGU.

JPL has spent months investigating Ingenuity's crash, and determined that the helicopter's navigation systems had too little information to go with due to the monotone, bland texture of the Martian surface.
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But there may be no way to get that data back to Earth. The Perseverance rover, through which Ingenuity communicates via radio link in order to send its data back to its mission team, is now 1.8 miles (3 km) away from the helicopter. Soon, Ingenuity might lose its ability to communicate with its human controllers on Earth.
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more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/crashing-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-172051010.html

Only 1.8 miles ? Sounds like Perseverance could travel into a better position for communication, and plan future forays centered around the crash site, returning frequently enough to salvage useful data.
(Last I heard, Perseverance hadn't broken down and was still able to travel.)