TheSkySearchers

From Ars Technica:
"Something has gone wrong with NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars. Although the US space agency has not made any public announcements yet, a source told Ars that the plucky flying vehicle had an accident on its last flight and broke one of its blades. It will not fly anymore. (Shortly after this article was published, NASA confirmed the end of Ingenuity's mission)."

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/01/n ... ed-planet/

smp

Sad news indeed. For an aircraft whose designed mission was to fly three proof-of-concept flights for only a few seconds each time, it turned into a remarkable exploratory tool. I believe its total flight distance was about 17 km. Its performance was nothing short of amazing, and I am sure it revolutionized Mars mission concept planning.

That is too bad. Funny though, missions to other planets seem to be either "crash and burn" or living way past the expected warranty. It's right up there with the Mars Odyssey orbiter and the Mars Opportunity rover.

When you think about it, it's been a bit over 100 years since our first powered flight on this planet and then another. Amazing

Maybe on a future mission we can grab the little flyer and bring it home,

After flying a helicopter on another planet the realm of possibilities has been expanded to maybe even include seeing it in person...

Here’s NASA’s “spin” on the end of its flight !

Sorry to hear but also glad that it lived past its projected lifespan. Overall we've been pretty lucky with unmanned missions being particularly effective.

Sad news indeed, but what an accomplishment for mankind, the knowledge learned is priceless.