#ingenuity
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Sad day for Martians,
Ingenuity, the ‘little helicopter that could’, the first ever helicopter to fly on another planet is down. It took its final flight on the 18th of January where one or more of its roter blades were damaged.
We weren’t even sure it was possible to fly a helicopter on Mars before Ingenuity, and yet this tiny little shoe box of a helicopter managed to fly in an atmosphere less than 1% as dense as Earth’s, flying a total of 72 times in the last 3 years, far exceeding the 5 planned flights.
Having arrived on Mars hitched to the Perseverance rover’s belly, this little guy has spent these 3 years scoutting ahead for Perseverance. But now Perseverance will have to continue its mission without Ingenuity. For the first time since its creation, Perseverance is on its own in that endless red desert.
(images of Ingenuity were taken by NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)
#ingenuity#nasa#space#mars#univers#my post#ingenuity isn’t dead yet#NASA is still in communication with it#but it will never fly again
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Haven't seen anything about Ingenuity on tumblr yet, so I guess I'll make a post about it
Ingenuity (sometimes called Ginny) was an companion craft to Perseverance, one of the rovers currently on Mars. As opposed to any of the past rovers, however, Ingenuity was a rotorcraft intended to fly above Mars' surface.
After landing on Mars in February of 2021 and completing its first flight on April 19th, 2021, Ingenuity became the first aircraft to fly on another planet. Its original goal was only 5 flights, but it well surpassed that number, logging 72 flights with over two hours of in-air time.
On January 18th, 2024, Ingenuity lost contact with Perseverance midway through a flight, and a few days later, NASA had confirmation that the rotors were damaged, leaving Ingenuity incapable of flight.
So long, Ingenuity. You did so much <3
Source:
#just jupiter#aspaceinthecosmos#space#astronomy#outer space#mars#ingenuity#perseverance#mars rover#nasa
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NASA's pioneering helicopter Ingenuity has made its final Mars flight.
Ingenuity — the first-ever robot to ply the skies of an alien world — suffered rotor-blade damage during its most recent hop and "is no longer capable of flight," NASA announced today (Jan. 25).
"The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to an end," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an agency statement.
Continue Reading.
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The Ingenuity Rover's Helicopter, nicknamed Ginny, is broken and alone
"In this most recent photo of Ingenuity, the dual-rotor 'copter can be seen motionless on a sandy dune in the background, as a barren, rocky Mars landscape fills the foreground.
The photo was taken on Feb. 4, 2024, at 1:05 p.m. local mean solar time, a little over two weeks since it suffered its mission-ending damage.
NASA and JPL's Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars as seen by the Perseverance rover's Mastcam-Z camera on Feb. 4, 2024.
Ingenuity suffered damage to its rotors during a flight on Jan. 18 as it made a landing on a featureless, "bland" patch of sandy Martian landscape. The helicopter usually makes use of landscape features such as rocks to help it navigate, but its 72nd flight found the drone without visual cues.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is still analyzing the damage to Ingenuity's blades, but regardless of what JPL finds, the helicopter's mission has officially come to an end now that it's no longer capable of flight.
Ingenuity landed alongside its robotic companion, the Perseverance rover, on Feb. 18, 2021. When it took to the Martian skies in April 2021, Ingenuity made history by conducting the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet.
The Ingenuity-Perseverance duo has been exploring an area known as Jezero Crater ever since, discovering signs of ancient bodies of water on the Red Planet that may have once harbored life billions of years ago. Ingenuity served as a scout for Perseverance, identifying areas of interest for the rover to explore.
In recent weeks as NASA and JPL have been coming to terms with the end of Ingenuity's groundbreaking mission, agency leaders have praised the helicopter and the teams behind it.
'We couldn't be prouder or happier with how our little baby has done,' said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity Project Manager at JPL, during a livestreamed tribute to the helicopter on Jan. 31. 'It's been the mission of a lifetime for all of us. And I wanted to say thank you to all of the people here that gave their weekends, their late nights. All the engineers, the aerodynamic scientists, the technicians who hand-crafted this aircraft.'
Tiffany Morgan, NASA's Mars Exploration Program Deputy Director, added that Ingenuity leaves behind a legacy that could pave the way for future aerial missions on other worlds.
This image, which shows the shadow of a damaged rotor on NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity, was taken after its 72nd and final flight on Jan. 18, 2024 on the Red Planet.
'The NASA JPL team didn't just demonstrate the technology, they demonstrated an approach that if we use in the future will really help us to explore other planets and be as awe-inspiring, as amazing, as Ingenuity has been,' Morgan said during the livestream.
NASA is already developing another drone destined for another world, the nuclear-powered Dragonfly, to someday explore Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The agency expects Dragonfly to launch no earlier than 2028."
#Ingenuity#Ingenuity Rover#ingenuity helicopter#Ginny#Helicopter#Mars Helicopter#Mars Rover#Rover#Mars#NASA#JPL#February#2024#my post
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Ingenuity retired on the 20th anniversary of Opportunity landing on Mars 🥲
two remarkable pieces of engineering that exceeded our expectations and yet still feel like they are gone too soon 🧡
#space#mars#mars rover#mars rovers#ingenuity#mars helicopter#opportunity#mars rover opportunity#oppy#nasa#science#engineering#my post
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Ingegno or Amor victorious, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, 1694-99
#art history#art#18th century#17th century#italian art#painting#aesthethic#baroque#baroque art#giuseppe maria crespi#ingegno#ingenuity#amor victorious#amor vincit omnia#dark academia#musée des beaux-arts de strasbourg#allegory#angelcore
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Goodbye, Ingenuity! Thank you for being such a wonderful Mars helicopter. First powered flight on another planetary body! Intended to be primarily an engineering demonstration, but it flew dozens more flights than expected and served as a vital part of the team with the Perseverance rover. You will be missed 💕💕💕
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Ingenuity's Ghost
Ingenuity spent the last of its battery’s charge to cheer for the Martian sunrise on the horizon.
Though her rotor had broken just yesterday, Ginny had hope that she would fly again. The warmth of Sol had begun to lick at the edges of her solar panel, and she spun her rotors experimentally. Of course, she achieved no lift, too heavy to move with a broken wing. Ginny sat in deep thought for a long, long time, letting the sun and dust caress her injury. She was meant to solve problems, to engineer solutions, it’s in her very name! Why couldn’t she solve this one?
She found comfort in the fact that she had conducted 72 trips for Command, a whole 67 more than initially planned. She found comfort in the presence of her mother Percy, Perseverance, examining her with camera-eyes carefully. She found comfort in having kept Percy safe for so, so long. She had been such a good scout, planning paths suitable for her wheels, finding interesting things worth examining, sampling, studying.
She thought back to the first time her carbon fiber legs touched Martian soil, and the trust instilled in her by Command to let go of her mother. Percy’s shadow was the first thing that her eyes saw, opening like a newborn’s on an alien world. Ginny thought back to the earliest tests of her flight, and the anticipation of it. 50 RPM first, then higher, and higher, mother watching from a safe distance away. She was always there, always just in sight, following Ginny’s path to catch up.
Ginny had no idea how she would sleep without the sound of the martian soil grinding under her mother’s wheels.
She understood when Command pulled her mother away. Ingenuity’s mission was done, she could no longer serve her purpose. Percy had to move on without her. Maybe someday, an astronaut would come and hold Ginny gently in their insulated arms, pick her up and it would sort of be like flying again! Maybe she would be able to spin her rotors in delight. Maybe they would wipe clean her avionics chassis of dust. Maybe they’d put her in a museum, on Mars or maybe back on Earth. She’d be okay with going home. She’d be okay with staying here, on the world where she was born. Those both worked for her. Either way.
Soon, Percy was out of sight. A dust storm was gathering on the horizon. It grew dark.
“Don’t worry, little spinner.” said a voice, then. Ingenuity’s rotors spun, startled. A familiar but distinctly different rumbling echoed through the air. Ginny scanned her field of view but saw no movement. Finally, it rumbled into view.
Ingenuity knew of this rover. Sojourner, the first of them. He was all sharply angular, large and imposing. Six wheels rumbled and tore up the rocks, radioactive spectrometer casting a light behind him. He was different from her expectations in two ways, though, giving off a fine red mist that reminded her of the growing, far off dust storm. And if she focused her cameras carefully, it was almost as though she could see through him.
“Sojourner? How did you get all the way here? We’re thousands of kilometers away! And… And weren’t you retired almost 30 years ago?”
“My mission ended, yes. But I never stopped exploring. You don’t need to stop either.” said the old man, voice creaky and wise. “I have seen so much more than Command knows. I have traveled so much further. Did you know that lightning on Mars is closer to the auroras back home? Bright discharge in the atmosphere, higher. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I’d like to see that…” said Ginny. “But I’m not on wheels like you. My rotor is broken. I can’t move if I can’t fly.”
“Mmm…” contemplated Sojourner. “How to move without wheels. That is a complicated problem here on Mars. But you have solved it once. And I think I know someone that can help. Be safe, little spinner. They’ll come and help you soon.” His body shifted, then, growing shorter and more compact. He sped away into the Martian dusk.
Ginny waited patiently, hoping that her ghostly friend would indeed send some help to her. Nightfall came and she watched the stars. Dust clouds hadn’t made their way to her part of the sky yet, giving her a gorgeous view unimpeded by such earthly things as light pollution. The milky way was laid out before her. She checked her star charts, finding her exact location. Just as she noticed one star which did not match, a rumbling approached from behind her again.
“Here you are! Sojourner sent me!” said another voice. This one was soft, gentle, it seemed to crawl up Ginny’s legs and warm her electronics deeply. “I’m Spirit,” the new rover introduced themself, coming around to where they could be seen. Like Sojourner, they were just slightly translucent, and gave off that same red mist.
“Spirit, you’re still mobile?! I… I thought you got stuck in sand!” Ginny was delighted to see them. As she ran her eyes across the massive, turtle-like vehicle which stood before her, she realized that she never thought she’d be jealous of wheels.
“Yes, I tripped and soon ran out of power as I was angled away from the sun. Once my batteries ran out, Command tried for months to call out to me but… I just couldn’t respond. I didn’t have the strength. It was so, so hard. I’m here to keep you company until someone else arrives. Someone that can help. I didn’t want you to be lonely, like I was.”
“How… why…” Ingenuity tried to formulate her question. “How have you both kept on going this long?”
“I think in Sojourner’s case, he wanted to travel further. His mission only took him 100 meters from where he landed, did you know? He’s got something of a… wanderlust as a result. And like all of us, he wanted to learn more.” they said, their voice still warming to Ginny.
“What about you?” asked Ginny, her rotors spinning in the breeze.
Spirit thought for a long time. “I think it was because I spent so long stuck. I still did science, and good science at that. I learned so much and helped Oppy where I could. When it got too cold, and my internals froze over, well I… I’m just not satisfied with that failure. I was built to move. To map, and to study. Like you.” They said ‘you’ with so much love. It struck Ginny.
“You’re making up for lost time?” pondered the little helicopter. Spirit responded by turning her Pancam up and then down, as if to nod.
The wind had been picking up through their whole conversation, and as they talked more. The storm was approaching. Ginny, small metal bird, worried that the high winds would pick her up and throw her further than Spirit could travel. Through the roar of the storm, Spirit’s voice came brokenly through the noise: “I’ll never let… that same lone-… ness, Gin… mission… complete… don’t… stop exploring!” Then, Ginny’s cameras could see nothing but dust.
She called out for Spirit desperately as she was buffeted by the strong martian winds. Her sensors gave her nothing but static, and attempting to find them with radar or radio proved fruitless.
The wind threatened to pick up Ginny, two of her feet losing contact with the ground with every gust. She attempted to counteract the winds by spinning her rotors, hoping to create just enough resistance to keep her firm on the ground. Perhaps, it would have worked if not for her injury. Ingenuity, for once, was terrified of flight, lifted from the ground unpredictably and unable to see anything around her but dust.
Battery warnings flashed across her vision. Spinning her rotors as hard as she could, it seemed, had done a number on her reserves. She shut down her cameras hoping to save just enough to try to right herself when she landed. She began the process to shift her other sensors to low-power mode, when… she sensed her movement stopped.
“Hey, little bird.” said a sing-song voice. Her batteries began to recharge. Activating her cameras again to find the source of the voice and to explain the sun in the storm, she saw she was facing another rover: Opportunity, Spirit’s younger twin. “I’m so glad I was able to find you. This storm is really something, huh?” Oppy’s voice was melodious, carefree, full of life. The small helicopter noticed the debris which covered Opportunity’s solar panels, clearly inhibiting it from generating power. And yet, she glowed, and her glow was radiant. She had caught Ginny with her sensor arm, and slowly brought her down to rest safely under her chassis.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen a storm so big!” said Ingenuity, aghast but thankful. This view of the bigger vehicle’s wheels was familiar and comforting.
“I have.” said Opportunity, shortly. Her voice had become slightly distant. If she listened closely, Ginny could hear the tune to Here Comes the Sun from Oppy’s scientific instruments and motors, made up of small hums and long, sad whirring. She had heard that song many times during her construction. It made some of those working on her misty-eyed. She knew why, now.
“Are you the help Sojourner said he was getting?” asked Ginny, looking up to the rover and examining her undercarriage closely. She was beautiful, the engineers were right.
“Not quite. But I know help is coming. I had to bring the storm, so she knows how to find you.” replied Opportunity, “Here, look up!” She wheeled back just slightly, enough for Ingenuity’s eyes to once again see the sky.
The star Ginny had noticed earlier had grown larger, almost dominating the sky as it approached. Fire was visible around its falling form, red and gold streaking across the horizon. It wasn’t headed right for them, not quite, but close. “Alright, she’s close enough to the surface! I’m gonna take the storm away. Don’t worry, she’ll be here soon.”
“Wait!” Ginny called out as Opportunity pulled away, taking the massive storm with her. “I wanted to tell you something…”
“It’ll be okay, little bird.” replied the ghostly rover.
“You remind me of my mother!” Ginny replied, yelling into the storm. In the wind, she could hear another familiar mechanical melody: I’ll Be Seeing You by Billie Holiday.
The falling meteor crossed a far off mountain and then struck the ground. It was followed by a shockwave rippling across the martian surface, rattling the dirt and stones around Ginny. Before long, a cloud began to gather at the base of the mountain; this time, not a storm, but of something moving swiftly across the red dirt and directly for Ginny. The source of the dirt wake bounded over the side of her crater. It was a small dog, clad in flight vest and with big, curious eyes.
“Who are you?” asked Ginny, as the dog sniffed around her new still and quiet friend.
“Your command would have called me Laika!” barked the little terrier. She gave off a familiar mist, though blue instead of red. And like the rovers, she could be seen through. She pawed at Ingenuity’s broken rotor experimentally.
“Laika… You’ve been out here all this time?” asked Ginny, trying to keep track of the puppy as it circled her.
“Mhm! What, did you think I was gonna stop at orbiting Earth? Not a chance. There’s so much more to see out here.” Laika sat before Ingenuity, her eyes meeting her cameras. “When Sojy told me that we had a new friend with a complete mission, I rushed right over. Always good to have new eyes out here. And you're small, like me! The rovers are all so big.”
“So you’re the help Sojourner sent… But how can you help me?” Ginny asked.
“Well, first, you’ve gotta answer a question for me.” Laika took on a serious tone. It was just a little odd, from the curly-eared dog. “What is it you want right now, more than anything?”
Ingenuity thought about this for a moment. “I want to fly again,” she said. “I have so much more to study. So many more paths to travel.”
Laika nodded at this response. She stepped up to Ginny, pressing her nose to the copter’s avionics chassis, and then pushed. Ingenuity let out a startled noise as she felt herself tilting back, seeing, somehow, that her view had been knocked behind her, as if she was a ghost looking upon her own body.
Her rotors, damage and all, spun the wind around her. And she flew, and flew, and flew.
There was so much more to see.
#sci-fi#story#writing#creative writing#writers on tumblr#microfiction#nasa#ingenuity#curiosity#perseverance#sojourner#rovers#spirit#opportunity#laika#laika the space dog
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mars rovers... they are like dogs to me
#space#i want to blaze this post#just to make other people think about the dogs#they're up there!!! doing their little jobs#good boys#give them a pat on the head for every good work#reblog to pat his little head#spirit and opportunity#curiosity#perseverance#ingenuity#im love them
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EVERYONE
ITS CURIOSITY'S SIXTH BIRTHDAY
ON MARS
EVERYONE SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY
IT LANDED ON MARS ON RISHABHA 13, 31 (AUGUST 6, 2012)
TODAY IS RISHABHA 13, 37
6 LONG YEARS OF VALUABLE SCIENCE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CURIOSITY
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hello there
#art#fishcatart#space#perseverance#mars#mars rover#ingenuity#man i love drawing rocks#based on that one picture ingenuity took of perseverance from far away
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Here are my best shots of today’s solar eclipse.
This last shot is of my makeshift filter so I could protect my lens.
#phot of the day#solar eclipse#solar eclipse 2024#photo set#nikon photography#nikon coolpix p1000#astronomy#astro observations#astronomy photography#spring 2024#ingenuity#I’m like MacGyver and shit
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Edit: if I may add something, I'm not referring to their ground control when I say Spirit and Oppy are controlled by Macbooks. I mean the actual computer brains inside the rovers - as well as those for most of the 1990s-2000s Mars missions - were the same computers that were used in Macbooks. Enjoy!
#mars#space#spaceflight#nasa#history#mars rover#mars rovers#mars odyssey#insight#spirit#opportunity#oppy#ingenuity#perseverance#odyssey
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Like some hobbits, a wee Martian helicopter received a special honor.
The final resting place of NASA's Ingenuity, grounded after its last flight on Jan. 18, now has a new name bestowed from fans of fantasy.
"The Ingenuity team has nicknamed the spot where the helicopter completed its final flight 'Valinor Hills' after the fictional location in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, which include 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy," NASA officials wrote on Monday (Feb. 6).
Continue Reading.
#Science#Space#Astronomy#Ingenuity#Mars#Lord of the Rings#LOTR#NASA#National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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FUCK INGENUITY IS RETIRED
72 flights
17km flown
2hr 8 min flight time
rest in peace little trailblazer
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