NASA's creativity: A new image captured by NASA's SuperCam

as we know NASA's drone ingenuity It can no longer fly, as has been determined several times by JPL. Fortunately, the Mars helicopter was able to land with the solar panel facing up, allowing it to charge the batteries and continue communicating with the rover. NASA's Perseverance rover To download the latest useful information. The reason for the end of a task Drone It is still being analyzed but with new images it is possible to better understand the damage done.

An early photo taken by American Rover Show the damage to the four blades of Drone But there was more data to download before we had a more complete scenario. The images were then downloaded from NASA ingenuity They showed much more damage than expected with one of the four blades completely missing. This can be found lying on the sand a few meters away.

In the first photo, the plane is without a blade, and in the second, the blade is missing

In the last few hours team NASA Perseverance Choose to use the scientific tool Supercam To capture a new drone image from a slightly different location than the Mastcam-Z images. Thanks to this new image, it is now certain that… Drone I lost one of the four blades.

The photo can be found on the official website From the Mars 2020 mission Where all photos taken by are saved Drone Or who? rover. Supercam It is commonly used to identify chemicals found in rocks and soil, including their atomic and molecular structures.

The sensor is located on “Testa” The rover has a mass of 5.6 kg and occupies an area of ​​38 x 20 x 16 cm. Analysis targets are typically much closer (between 7 m and 12 m) than they currently are NASA ingenuity (about 500-600 metres). The photo shows how the upper rotor blade is completely missing while at least one lower rotor blade is broken in the tip area.

This completely damages the balance of the drone and thus stresses this again NASA ingenuity You will never fly again. However, it would be interesting to understand the sequence of events that led to the end of the mission. In particular, there do not appear to be any marks in the sand consistent with contact with the drone at the point where the broken shovel touched his body. Alternatively, it could have separated due to mechanical stress and thus caused forced landing Follower Drone That he could no longer frame the earth with it Navcam Hence losing orientation. Landing on a sand dune (on a sloping surface) may have damaged the tip of one of the blades thus ending the mission.

We remember that NASA ingenuity It was supposed to make five flights within 30 days, according to initial estimates. Instead, the drone made it to its 72nd flight, covering more than 17 kilometers on terrain unsuitable for the rover, and flying for more than 128 minutes. Its capabilities have been so appreciated that more drones are planned for the future, including those developed by ISRO and CNSA.