On the plains of Jezero, the secrets of Mars' past await us! Follow for the latest news, updates, pretty pics, and community discussion on NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's most ambitious mission to Mars!
Ingenuity helicopter flew for a total of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 48 seconds over 1,004 days on Mars, flying more than 17 kilometers (11 miles) during its 72 flights.
Imaged here by one of the rover's MastCam-Z cameras (zoom set at 34mm). The photograph was captured during mission Sol 47 (April 7, 2021) shortly after deployment.
12 days after this image was taken JPL flew the helicopter for the first time during April 19, 2021
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
What?! Ingenuity is not active anymore? :(
Not actively flying, no. The last flight it crashed and damaged nearly all its blades :(
However, JPL uploaded new software so it could function as a stationary data collection tool still waking up daily to perform tests.
The future path of the rover shows a number of waypoints that are located outside the crater. Once those waypoints have been investigated the team will decide where the rover will explore next. There are many interesting areas inside and outside the crater that will be considered for future exploration. If they decide to re-enter the crater using the same path they used to leave the crater, then the rover would pass close to the helicopter. Maybe they will attempt to make contact and see if it was still gathering the environmental data it was tasked with after it was damaged in it last landing two years ago (January 18, 2024), or maybe just image it from afar to record its condition. Time will tell...
Shot down by Russian-backed seperatists