Ingenuity Mars Helicopter phones home after 2 months of no contact

NASA is back in touch with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter after losing communication with the rotorcraft for 63 days, said the space agency.

An illustration of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. (NASA)

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Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have established contact with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on June 28 after silence from the rotorcraft for 63 days since its last flight.

Ingenuity is a small solar-powered helicopter that landed on the Martian surface on February 18, 2021, along with the Perseverance Rover. On April 19, the same year, it created history by completing the first powered extraterrestrial flight in human history.

Ingenuity’s 52nd flight happened on April 26 but NASA mission controllers lost contact with the helicopter when it descended towards the surface for landing, meaning that they had no way of making sure if the flight was a success.

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But this loss in communications was expected because there was a hill between the landing location and the Perseverance rover. The rover acts as an information relay between the helicopter and mission controllers on Earth. Ahead of this loss of communications, Ingenuity teams had already established re-contact plans for when the rover would drive to a location where it is in range of the helicopter, according to NASA.

According to Josh Anderson, Ingenuity team lead at JPL, communication dropouts are more likely now since the rover and helicopter are currently exploring a part of the Jezero Crater with a lot of rugged terrains. The team will try to keep Ingenuity ahead of Perseverance, which means that the helicopter will occasionally go beyond communication limits.