Ingenuity's final flight over Mars nearly ends in an unmanned helicopter crash

Ingenuity recently made its 53rd flight over the surface of Mars. As it turned out, it nearly ended in a Martian drone crash.

Here's What We Know

NASA had planned to make five flights of Ingenuity. Despite the fact that the plan has been exceeded, the agency does not intend to lose the drone prematurely. The LAND_NOW team, which recently saved Ingenuity from crashing, is provided for emergencies.

The space agency wanted the Martian drone to make a flight of 2 minutes and 16 seconds as part of its 53rd mission. However, Ingenuity instead landed 1 minute 14 seconds after takeoff. It flew 142 metres instead of the planned 203 metres.

The problem is a mismatch between the frames from the navigation camera and the data from the inertial system. In this case, the LAND_NOW command is triggered, as the drone has no data to determine its position above the surface of the planet.

This situation first occurred during the sixth flight, which took place in May 2021. NASA has now patched the software and plans to conduct a 25-second test flight 54, which will see Ingenuity take off and land.

Source: NASA