NASA is set to release the first-ever off-world aircraft accident investigation report, marking a historic moment that will aid in the planning of future flying vehicles for Mars exploration.
Initially, NASA engineers planned for the Mars Perseverance Rover’s Ingenuity helicopter to conduct five experimental test flights over 30 days in 2021. Surpassing expectations, the helicopter remained operational for nearly three more years, completing a total of 77 flights and traveling much farther than anticipated.
[Related: RIP Mars Ingenuity, the ‘little helicopter that could’]
The final flight of Ingenuity on January 18, 2024, ended in a crash that damaged its blades. NASA was puzzled by the incident until a joint team from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and AeroVironment conducted an analysis of the available data.
“When conducting an accident investigation from 100 million miles away, there are no black boxes or eyewitnesses,” stated Håvard Grip, the first pilot of Ingenuity, in the report announcement by JPL on December 10th.
The investigation revealed that the likely cause of the crash was the helicopter’s navigation system failing to calculate the flight trajectory accurately due to limited visual cues while flying over smooth Martian terrain.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Analysis indicated that the helicopter’s navigation system lost trackable surface attributes shortly after takeoff, leading to excessive horizontal velocity that exceeded the rotor blades’ design limits. This caused the blades to snap, resulting in a crash that damaged the helicopter’s communication equipment.
Despite the crash, Ingenuity continues to transmit data to the Perseverance rover, offering valuable insights for future Mars missions. NASA is utilizing this knowledge to develop larger aerial vehicles for Mars exploration, such as the Mars Chopper project unveiled on December 11th.
In addition to larger vehicles, engineers are also exploring smaller and lighter designs inspired by Ingenuity’s success. Teddy Tzanetos, the project manager for Ingenuity, highlighted the resilience of small-scale vehicles in the Martian environment.
The advancements in Mars aerial vehicle technology demonstrate that size is not always a determining factor for success in the harsh Martian environment. The longevity and achievements of Ingenuity pave the way for future innovations in space exploration.
“We’re now approaching four years of continuous operations, suggesting that not everything needs to be bigger, heavier, and radiation-hardened to work in the harsh Martian environment,” Tzanetos remarked.
