June 1 () –
The ground control team of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars lost contact with the tiny aircraft for six days, first controlled flight deployed on another world.
At first, there was no concern when communications from the helicopter ceased on Sol (Martian day) 755. About a year ago, there was a brief two-day communication failure because Ingenuity experienced insufficient battery charge at nightfall at beginning of the martian winter. This reduced voltage reset the mission clock, causing the helicopter’s system to be out of sync with the Perseverance rover. While the team quickly resolved the issue, due to Ingenuity’s out-of-the-box batteries, they expected this issue to occur again. But this time it’s been different.
“In over 700 sols operating the helicopter on Mars, we have never experienced a total radio blackout,” wrote Travis Brown, Ingenuity’s chief engineer, on the mission blog. “Even in the worst communications environments, we have always seen some indication of activity.”
Finally, on Sol 761, almost a week after the first failed check-in, the communications team observed a single radio ACK (radio acknowledgment). The next day, another unique ACK confirmed that the helicopter was indeed alive.
After some forensic analysis, Brown and his team believe they have determined what happened. “Ultimately, this communications blackout, the first of its kind, was the result of two factors.“, said Brown. “First, the topology between the rover and the helicopter was a great challenge for the radio used by Ingenuity. In addition, a moderate ridge located just southeast of the Flight 49 landing site separated the helicopter from the rover’s operating area. The impact of this ridge would only subside once the rover had gotten uncomfortably close to the helicopter.”
Second, the communications antenna on the rover that ‘talks’ to the helicopter is located on the right side of the rover, and its position meant that signals between the two robots were partially blocked, reports Universe Today.
Now that Ingenuity is back, the team realizes that communication failures are likely to occur in the future. While you’ve far exceeded your nominal mission and your surprisingly rugged out-of-the-box equipment is still performing, the aging equipment and dusty conditions they mean the helicopter won’t last forever.
“When we first flew, we thought we’d be incredibly lucky to get five flights,” said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity team leader at JPL. “We have exceeded our expected cumulative flight time since our technology demonstration ended by 1,250% and our expected distance flown by 2,214%.”
Somehow, the helicopter keeps going through all the adversity. Even on its 49th flight to Mars, the Guidance Navigation and Control team managed to push the flight envelope with a 16-meter vertical pop-up at the end of the flight, Brown said. At the peak of its flight, Ingenuity took the highest suborbital image of the Martian surface ever taken.
In addition to its primary mission as a technology demonstrator, Ingenuity has proven incredibly useful to the rover, providing tactical and scientific exploration for the Perseverance mission. Ingenuity’s aerial imagery has proven its value in helping the rover avoid potential rocky or sandy hazards.
