NASA’s Perseverance rover has captured a picture of Ingenioti’s eternal resting place after it ceased operations earlier this month. Ingenioti was a small robotic helicopter that took off from the surface of the Red Planet in April 1400, becoming the first aircraft to make a controlled flight on another world.
NASA said in a statement when Ingenuity made its first flight that the Red Planet has much less gravity (one third of Earth) and a very thin atmosphere with only one percent of surface pressure compared to our planet; This means that fewer molecules in the air make it much more difficult for the ingenuity to fly.
The Ingenuity was an experimental prototype, scheduled for only five flights in 30 days; But in the end, he made 72 flights over a thousand days. The Mars Chopper performed so well that NASA decided to use it to obtain an aerial view of Mars and identify areas of interest for closer inspection by Perseverance.
Unfortunately, Ingenuity had an emergency landing on its 72nd flight and lost its connection with Perseverance. When contact was reestablished, pictures sent back to the ground showed that the helicopter’s blade was badly damaged, rendering Ingenuity unable to fly.
On February 4th, the Perseverance rover took a picture of its Martian companion on top of the sand dunes of the Yezro Crater and said goodbye to it. Sleep well, little Martian friend!
