Problems brought on by the winter have so far included a dead sensor, a mission clock that resets every night, and even a temporary loss of communications. The electronics were not designed to withstand such bitter cold. Ingenuity is now shutting down at night, exposing its fragile electronics to temperatures of -80 degrees Celsius (-112 degrees Fahrenheit). The shorter days, along with more dust in the atmosphere, means the helicopter isn’t getting enough battery power. Whereas Perseverance is nuclear powered, Ingenuity is solar powered and needs a strong dose of sunlight each day to charge its batteries and power the heaters that keep its electronics warm. The Martian winter brings with it long nights and chilly conditions. Perseverance and Ingenuity landed during the Martian spring, when days in the red planet’s northern hemisphere were longer and temperatures were higher. Ingenuity is now facing its toughest challenge yet: surviving the Martian winter. What is Ingenuity doing now? How long will Ingenuity last? Dragonfly will buzz around Titan investigating a world with conditions similar to early Earth, including the basic ingredients for life as we know it. Lessons from the little rotorcraft will help inform future planetary flying missions like NASA’s Dragonfly spacecraft, which will explore Saturn’s moon Titan using an eight-bladed quadcopter. They could search for landing sites for future Mars missions or serve as shipping couriers, carrying payloads from one location to another. Ingenuity-like drones could carry small science instruments or sampling equipment. They could help scientists search for interesting geologic features and visit locations that neither rovers nor humans can reach. They could support rovers by scouting potential routes and identifying possible obstacles. Helicopters like Ingenuity could prove invaluable on Mars and other worlds. Since then the helicopter has made roughly 30 flights, demonstrating a new mode of transportation for future planetary exploration missions. No spacecraft had ever taken off and landed on the surface of Mars or any other world until Ingenuity flew into the Martian skies for the first time on April 19, 2021. Can we fly on other worlds? That’s what NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter set out to answer on the red planet.
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