Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 After Nearly 1K Martian Days, NASA’s Ingenuity Chopper Has Taken Its Last Flight NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter landed on Mars in February 2021 for a short mission consisting of five experimental test flights. When it first lifted off that April, it proved that powered, controlled flight was possible on the red planet. And rather than retiring 30 days later as planned, Ingenuity stayed. Over the past three years, the tiny, 4-pound chopper has logged 72 flights and spent nearly 1,000 Martian days up in space — “more than 33 times longer than originally planned,” NASA said in a recent press release announcing that Ingenuity’s era has finally come to an end. The helicopter’s last flight took place Jan. 18. It reached a height of 40 feet and hovered for a few seconds before its descent, during which it lost contact with the Perseverance rover. After communications were restored, ground controllers received imagery that showed damage to Ingenuity’s rotor blade, signaling the conclusion of its Mars mission. “The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to [an] end,” Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best — make the impossible, possible.” 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 What an accomplishment! To the Engineers, builders and the team: Bravo! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailrider #896 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Rest In Peace, Ingenuity! You'll have to wait until Elon Musk lands with a replacement blade to fix you! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 If you like this article, you will enjoy a documentary currently streaming on Prime, "Good Night Oppy". It's the story of the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, that were sent to Mars in 2003 with an operational life expectancy of 90 days. Oppy continued to operate for 15 years. The story brought me to tears. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 All the extra return info is makeup for the Climate Orbiter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 20 minutes ago, J-BAR #18287 said: The story brought me to tears. Same for me. An amazing bit of technology and engineering. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 Mars exploration has an amazing list of both successes and failures. Soviets, UK, US, Europe, Russia, and China. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Fascinating! Did you know that Mars is inhabited by robots? Years ago when I worked at Hughes I worked with the engineer that designed the power supply system for the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. He worked at TRW at the time. That power supply system was only supposed to last until the craft got photos from Jupiter. I believe it took 500 shots of Jupiter and relayed them back to NASA in 1973. That was at 16 million miles. Pioneer continued to operate and send data back to NASA until January 2003. It was 7.5 Billion miles from Earth. NASA loves redundancy, that’s for sure. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 8 minutes ago, Pat Riot said: NASA loves redundancy, that’s for sure. It was called TMR, triple modular redundancy. And a lot of it was before you could do computers on a chip. any wondering why try Soviets abandoned Buran? Left the orbiter to rust away after one unmanned flight. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Amazing technology, no doubt primitive in terms of the Universe. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 3 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said: If you like this article, you will enjoy a documentary currently streaming on Prime, "Good Night Oppy". It's the story of the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, that were sent to Mars in 2003 with an operational life expectancy of 90 days. Oppy continued to operate for 15 years. The story brought me to tears. “The Farthest” (2017) about Voyager, had that effect on me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Li’l feller sure punched way above his weight!! I wish some of the stuff we buy here on earth held up as well!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 (edited) 1 hour ago, Blackwater 53393 said: Li’l feller sure punched way above his weight!! I wish some of the stuff we buy here on earth held up as well!! He wasn't made in China. speaking of that, the Chinese lander couldn’t handle the dust storms. Edited January 31 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailrider #896 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 7 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: It was called TMR, triple modular redundancy. And a lot of it was before you could do computers on a chip. any wondering why try Soviets abandoned Buran? Left the orbiter to rust away after one unmanned flight. The Soviets flat ran out of money to continue Buran. Pity because it had some features that Shuttle didn't have. Unfortunately, I can recall what they were right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watab kid Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 there have been so many technological advancements in our lives directly attributable to the space age research , it makes me wonder at all the electric car mandate crap that our government has tried to perpetrate on us - they need to look at these things and realize the world will evolve by scientific discovery and ,market demands - not government interference 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Hey Blackwater Your Wish has been Granted - TWINKIES!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 3 hours ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said: Hey Blackwater Your Wish has been Granted - TWINKIES!! Twinkies are fossilized to begin with!! They have this petrified quality that defies description. They ain’t worth a damn, but they certainly last! Stale to start with!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 4 hours ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said: Hey Blackwater Your Wish has been Granted - TWINKIES!! I could smell them the instant I read the word. They had kind of chemical smell to me. But have to admit if there was a box of em here, I'd likely consume them! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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