Flight 72: Man's first aircraft accident investigation beyond Earth.
Long the fantasy of explorers, writers, and scientists, Mars was a rust-red expanse of desert and ancient riverbeds often engulfed in dust storms. Now, it beckons, promising to yield to humans. None of the robotic emissaries to this alien world had ever pulled off what NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter managed: powered, controlled flight in a place where the atmosphere was just 1% the density of Earth’s.
But as that story unfolded, it wasn’t one of victories alone. Its 72nd flight—a bold step into the dark—ended in a terrible wrong. For the first time in human history, man’s ingenuity had to conduct an investigation into an aircraft accident on another world—a gruesome and, at the same time, an incredible milestone in man’s quest for new frontiers.
An Extraordinary Voyage
Ingenuity was never supposed to make it this far. It was a technology demonstrator aimed at showing the world that it was possible to fly in the thin Martian atmosphere; it was designed only for five flights in a tiny operational window. Then, the little helicopter bucked everyone’s expectations:
- It had been redefining what was possible for small, solar-powered aircraft with every flight: 72 missions of scouting terrain for the Perseverance rover, capturing aerial images and traveling more than 11 miles – 18 kilometers – in total distance. Each flight has been pushing the helicopter into progressively more challenging situations.
- It was an engineering wonder and, simultaneously, a feat that became a symbol of ingenuity-true to its name, perseverance. Yet, even for the most extraordinary machines, each flight has its boundary.
What Happened on Flight 72?
For Ingenuity, it was just another mission day getting underway on January 18, 2024. It was tasked with what amounts to a simple «popcorn hop» for the copter-a short, straight-up takeoff to 40 feet altitude (12 meters), brief hover, and then land. Such routine hops are very important in testing the vehicle’s systems and keeping it operable.
Telemetry from the helicopter showed nothing out of the ordinary: Ingenuity lifted off smoothly, ascended as planned, and hovered while stable. It was just that as it started its descent, well, that’s when the mission took an unexpected turn: Communication between the helicopter and its base station-the Perseverance rover-cut off around 3 feet or 1 meter above the ground.
For hours, the mission team sat anxiously awaiting a signal. The next day, contact was re-established. Ingenuity had landed—but not intact. Imaging from Perseverance showed that at least one of its rotor blades had suffered serious damage that put the helicopter out of commission for future flights.
Unveiling the Cause
Without the physical recovery of the crash site, this ream of data that Ingenuity had managed to transmit before going dark became about the only option left for the engineers. Every second of telemetry, every snippet of diagnostic data-all became vital in piecing together what went wrong with the unsuccessful flight.
An investigation has concluded that it was a combination of things that caused the hard landing: the prime suspect is the navigation system of Ingenuity, which relies largely on visual landmarks to maintain position and stability. The flat, featureless terrain it overflew during Flight 72 didn’t provide enough points of reference and appeared to have confused the system, engineers believe. Probably consequently, the helicopter came off its planned descent trajectory slightly to touch down roughly.
It was most critical for steady flights that the rotor blades were badly damaged; since then, the aircraft never flew again.
Flights 72 brought on a new set of challenges. An Aircraft accident on earth is investigated by recovering wreckage, inspecting components and simulation. On Mars, tools are restricted to remote data and imagery.
Perseverance, being in proximity, served as the default detective. It framed the event with close-ups of Ingenuity’s haggard body and the landscape around it. Back on Earth, engineers would eventually combine this visual information with telemetry from the helicopter’s onboard systems to reconstruct what happened in the events leading up to the crash.
The results would show not just what went wrong but also part of the challenge in flying a spot as inhospitable as Mars.
Ingenuity’s Legacy
While the crash really marked the terminus of Ingenuity’s flying days, its story is decidedly not over. Even in failure, Ingenuity continued to teach humanity a few salient lessons, including:
Flight 72 underlined the need for robust failsafes in extraterrestrial aviation. In all likelihood, future aircraft to take to the Martian atmosphere will carry even more redundancies to minimize risk in the failure.
