NASA regains contact with Ingenuity helicopter on Mars after unexpected outage
An illustration of NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter flying on Mars (Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Humanity skipped a beat when National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) informed about loss ofcontact with Ingenuity, the helicopter which carried-out the first-ever on-surface flight on another planet. It was thought that the helicopter, which has far exceeded its initial mission brief, had finally taken its last breath in the (thin) Martian atmosphere.
But NASA has re-established contact with the tiny flying machine on the red planet.
"Good news today," wrote NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on X (formerly Twitter). In the post, NASA JPL said that it commanded the Perseverance rover to "perform long-duration listening sessions for Ingenuity's signal."
"The team is reviewing the new data to better understand the unexpected comms dropout during Flight 72," it added.
Communications with Ingenuity were suddenly lost when NASA was carrying out a test flight on Thursday (January 18). It was Ingenuity's 72nd lift-off from Mars.
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Previously, NASA said that Ingenuity had climbed up to 40 feet from the Martian surface during its 72nd flight.
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The flight was a "quick pop-up vertical flight to check out the helicopter's systems, following an unplanned early landing during its previous flight."
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But as the helicopter was descending, NASA said that the Perseverance rover was temporarily "out of line-of-sight with Ingenuity, but the team could consider driving closer for a visual inspection."
Will Ingenuity fly again?
NASA hasn't confirmed anything yet and has said that it will have to assess data and look at the overall situation before it can say for sure.
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Ingenuity weighs just over four pounds and has amazed scientists with its longevity.
(With inputs from agencies)