Ingenuity Will Begin Ranging Further, Higher, and More Dangerous In Assessment of Martian River Remains

Ingenuity's mission has been extended through the coming months, guaranteeing its operations through September of 2022. 

The little helicopter has survived the harsh Martian seasons and continued its brief flights in a display of endurance that has vastly outperformed expectations held by the NASA engineers in charge of the project.

Since landing alongside the Perseverance Rover in the summer of 2020, the flyweight helicopter has completed 21 flights in all, 7 times its originally planned mission as a tech demonstration program.

The helicopter has spent almost 2 years weathering the elements, faithfully soldiering onward with a series of carefully engineered and considered operational changes to maintain flight capability in shifting environmental parameters.

Upcoming flights will attempt to take the helicopter outside of the open, flat terrain it has ventured through so far and into the rocky, craggy river delta of the Jezero crater.

The new location has been made available through a series of remote software updates to the helicopter, enabling higher altitude and speed adjustments while in flight.

“Less than a year ago we didn’t even know if powered, controlled flight of an aircraft at Mars was possible,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator of NASA’s science mission directorate. “Now, we are looking forward to Ingenuity’s involvement in Perseverance’s second science campaign. Such a transformation of mindset in such a short period is simply amazing, and one of the most historic in the annals of air and space exploration.”

FMI: www.mars.nasa.gov