spacetoday.net: JPL completes investigation into Ingenuity Mars helicopter final flight

JPL completes investigation into Ingenuity Mars helicopter final flight

Posted: Sun, Dec 15, 2024, 8:53 AM ET (1353 GMT)
JPL has completed an investigation into the final flight of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. Ingenuity, designed for just five flights, made a hard landing on its 72nd flight in January, breaking its rotors. At a briefing Wednesday, project officials said the helicopter's navigation system was confused by the featureless terrain it was flying over, causing it to land with a high lateral velocity. While engineers originally thought that the rotors broke after making contact with the ground, they now believe that high loads from the hard landing snapped the rotors without hitting the ground. While Ingenuity can no longer fly, its other systems continue to operate, collecting data on conditions at its final landing site.