After a nail-biting 63 days of silence, the Ingenuity Mars helicopter — the first-ever machine capable of powered and controlled flight on another planet — has finally made contact with mission control, NASA reports.
The signal means Ingenuity’s 52nd flight on the red planet was a success.
Ingenuity first launched alongside the Perseverance Mars rover in July 2020. The duo landed on the red planet on Feb. 18, 2021 for the first time. Ingenuity relies on Perseverance to operate and communicate on Mars.
Ingenuity’s most recent flight — just over two minutes long — was designed to reposition the helicopter so it could take new images of Mars’ surface for researchers. NASA said Ingenuity’s signal cut out on April 26 thanks to a hill that separated the helicopter from the Perseverance rover. On June 28, the rover finally made it over the hill, giving the helicopter the signal it needed to contact NASA mission control.
Experts at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, predicted the hill would cause an interruption. This is not Ingenuity’s first run-in with communication issues.
Back in April, mission control unexpectedly lost touch with Ingenuity for six days, unable to find any signs of activity. space.com said that it was the first time the team experienced a complete communication blackout. This caused unease prior to the return of the helicopter. But the next day, the helicopter successfully completed its 50th flight on the red planet.
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