Compiled by | Xin Yu
According to Nature, NASA's "Ingenuity" helicopter crashed into the Jezero Crater on Mars during its 72nd flight. Ingenuity has been on Mars for almost 3 years.This helicopter, which flew on Mars, is a box-shaped drone equipped with a pair of 1.2-meter carbon fiber blades. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) built this helicopter to test whether powered flight is possible in the thin atmosphere of other planets. Ingenuity was sent to Mars along with NASA's Perseverance rover and landed in February 2021.Ingenuity was originally planned to fly 5 times, lasting about a month. However, since landing, it has flown 17 kilometers in nearly 129 minutes. On January 25th, NASA announced that during its final journey, something fatal happened to Ingenuity - the rotor blade may have hit the ground. Ground images taken by the helicopter show the shadow of one of the blades, revealing that at least a quarter of the blade is missing. The helicopter can still communicate with the Earth, but it can no longer fly.Future planetary missions will learn from the experience of Ingenuity. NASA is currently building an eight-rotor helicopter for exploring Saturn's moon Titan, with the earliest launch date in 2028. Engineers at JPL have been designing advanced helicopters for future Mars missions that can carry a large payload and explore cliffs and canyons that other spacecraft cannot reach.On Mars, Ingenuity also serves as an assistant to Perseverance, often flying ahead of its planned path to scout for potential obstacles on the terrain. However, sometimes the rover travels much faster than the helicopter, so Perseverance has to wait for Ingenuity to catch up.Ingenuity crashed at the top of an ancient river delta in the Jezero Crater, several hundred meters northwest of Perseverance's current location. Perseverance has traveled over 24 kilometers and is collecting rock cores from a volcanic vent. So far, it has collected 23 samples, with 10 samples placed in a cache, waiting to be picked up by a future spacecraft. NASA and the European Space Agency hope to bring these samples back to Earth for scientific research in the next few years. However, due to the cost, which could be as high as $11 billion, they are modifying the plans.China Science News (2024-01-29, 1st Edition, Headline News)Editor | Zhao LuLayout | Guo GangPlease scan the QR code below for 3 seconds to recognize it
