The Ingenuity Mars helicopter’s two-month silent stretch has ended.
cleverness She communicated with her therapists on June 28th via her robotic partner, The Rover PerseveranceNASA officials made the announcement on Friday, June 30. It was the first contact of its kind since April 26, when the 4-pound (1.8 kg) helicopter darkened at the end of its 52nd flight on the floor of the Martian Jezero Crater.
“The part of Jezero Crater that the rover and helicopter are currently exploring has a lot of rough terrain, which increases the potential for communications outages,” Creative Team Lead Josh Anderson, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said. he said in a statement.
“The team’s goal is to keep creativity ahead of perseverance, which sometimes includes temporarily pushing the boundaries of communication,” Anderson added. “We are excited to be back in range of communications with Ingenuity and to receive confirmation of Flight 52.”
Related: Facts about the Creativity of the Mars Helicopter, the first aircraft to fly on the Red Planet
Ingenuity covered 1,191 feet (363 m) of ground in Flight 52, which lasted 139 seconds. The primary goals of the sortie were to relocate the helicopter and take pictures for the Perseverance science team, according to NASA officials.
Newly received flight data indicates that creativity remains healthy. If further recordings confirm this, team members said, the helicopter could fly again within the next few weeks.
creativity and life hunting, Sample collection Perseverance landed inside Jezero in February 2021. The helicopter soon succeeded in its primary mission, a five-flight campaign intended to show that aerial exploration is possible on Mars. Creativity then embarked on an expanded mission, serving as an explorer of perseverance.
All communications to and from Ingenuity must be directed through Perseverance. That explains the final silent spell, which both mission teams expected: The rover disappeared behind a hill from the helicopter’s perspective, not returning to view until June 28th.
Creativity handlers have been plagued by other communications issues recently as well. In early April, for example, the chopper It was dark for six daysa sudden leak that made the mission team sweat a little.
Originally published on Space.com.
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