After nearly three years on Mars, the small Ingenuity helicopter will no longer fly over the Red Planet due to a problem that occurred during its 72nd flight, NASA announced Thursday, AFP reports, citing news.ro.

“What Ingenuity has accomplished is far beyond what we thought possible,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a video. The helicopter “paved the way for future flights in our solar system.”

In 2021, Ingenuity became the first engine to fly to another planet. He demonstrated that it is possible to fly in the Martian air, which is only 1% denser than the Earth’s atmosphere.

Initially, it was planned that the helicopter would take off only five times, but, taking into account its excellent characteristics, the mission was extended – until today.

The accident happened last week, during the 72nd flight. The helicopter did reach a height of 12 meters, but shortly before landing, communication was suddenly interrupted.

Communication was eventually restored the next day, but NASA teams could see “damage” in images taken days later.

On Thursday, a photo taken by the helicopter itself was released, showing the shadow of one of its damaged blades.

“About 25%” of the shovel is missing, mission leader Teddy Tsanetos said at a news conference.

“We may never know” what exactly happened because of the temporary loss of data transmission at the end of the last flight, he stressed. “But our engineering judgment leads us to believe that the blade hit the Martian surface during descent.”

As a result, the helicopter does not have the necessary thrust for flight. According to Tsanetos, the cause of the communication failure is still being investigated, but it may be related to the impact itself.

He added that other blades were likely damaged, which NASA teams are trying to confirm.

Already during its 71st flight, Ingenuity had to make an emergency landing, the space agency reported. At the time, it was flying over difficult terrain with little terrain – a challenge for its autonomous navigation system, which relies on ground landmarks.

The 72nd flight, planned as a short one, was carried out under the same conditions.

The announcement was an opportunity to celebrate all the spacecraft’s achievements.

“Ingenuity has completely disrupted our research paradigm, adding a new aerial dimension,” enthused Laurie Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Sciences Division.

With a weight of only 1.8 kg, the helicopter was more like a large drone.

In total, he traveled approximately 17 kilometers and flew at a height of 24 meters. Its total flight time is more than two hours.

It arrived on Mars in February 2021 with the Perseverance rover, whose mission is to search for traces of ancient microbial life on Mars.

In this way, Ingenuity was able to play the role of aerial scout. The latter is currently “too far away” to attempt to visit the helicopter and photograph it up close, NASA said.

Because the rover acts as a data relay between Ingenuity and Earth, contact with the helicopter was lost as Perseverance continued its journey.

Ingenuity’s longevity is impressive, especially given that it had to survive the frigid Martian nights, keeping warm with solar panels that charged the batteries during the day.

The American space agency is already working on another project of a flying vehicle as part of the Dragonfly mission, which this time is aimed at Saturn’s largest moon Titan.

Helicopters can also help humans explore Mars in the future, says Teddy Tsanetos: “No one should be surprised if in the future the first astronauts, the first woman and the first man on the surface will be surrounded by a fleet of aircraft. , which will capture these scenes.”