NASA showed the location of the last landing and permanent stay of the Ingenuity helicopter from now on.
What is known about Ingenuity's last landing site
It is noted that the place where the helicopter completed its last flight is called Valinor Hills, in accordance with the fictional place from the novels of science fiction writer JRR Tolkien "The Lord of the Rings".
Ingenuity has completed 72 flights since landing on the surface of Mars with the Perseverance rover on February 18, 2021.
What is known about the Ingenuity mission to Mars
The small Ingenuity spacecraft has already made more than 70 flights on the Red Planet, but the 69th flight over the surface of Mars became a record.
When the Ingenuity helicopter landed on Mars with the Perseverance rover in February 2021, scientists were not sure that this device would be able to successfully cope with the task.
Namely, with the demonstration of the possibility of flying an aircraft in the rarefied atmosphere of Mars.
But almost 3 years have passed since the first flight of Ingenuity, it was able to take off 70 times, and during the 69th flight at the end of December, the aircraft set a new record for flight distance.
Scientists from NASA say that the Ingenuity helicopter, which was supposed to make only 5 flights to Mars, has long exceeded all expectations. And during the 69th flight, he set another record on Mars.
The aircraft weighing only 1.8 kg was able to fly a distance of almost 706 meters.
Before that, the longest distance covered by a helicopter was a distance of 704 meters. The previous record was set in April 2022.
Ingenuity also set another record.
During this flight, he reached the highest speed for the entire time of his flights on Mars - 36 km/h.
In the spring of 2021, Ingenuity proved that flights in the rarefied atmosphere of Mars are possible, but NASA scientists decided to continue operating the helicopter. Since then, the aircraft has been performing a mission that was not originally planned.
Ingenuity is a scout that helps navigate the Perseverance rover as it moves around Crater Lake. In this crater, billions of years ago, there was a lake of liquid water, as well as a river delta.
The Perseverance rover, powered by Ingenuity, is searching for signs of life on Mars and collecting samples of native rock to be delivered to Earth in the early 2030s.
As the first spacecraft on Mars, Ingenuity is a technological pioneer.
Its successors will be created on the basis of data obtained by scientists during helicopter flights.
For example, during the mission to deliver samples from Mars to Earth, new, more powerful helicopters capable of carrying several kilograms of cargo will be used.
