Mars Ingenuity Helicopter - Dusty but still going strong after 50 Flights

Ingenuity Helicopter made it's 50th flight on April 13th 2023 a few days short of the 2nd anniversary of its first flight on Mars , not bad for a 30 day 5 flight Tech demo.

To celebrate the achievement NASA have put together this 1 minute highlights reel.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history when it achieved the first powered, controlled flight on another planet on April 19, 2021. Since then, it has exceeded expectations and most recently executed its 50th flight on Mars. This video highlights Ingenuity’s flights, captured by the Perseverance Rover’s WATSON and Mastcam-Z cameras, as well as Ingenuity’s color Return to Earth (RTE) camera and its black-and-white navigation camera.

Perseverance may have recently lost its pet rock but at least it still has its helicopter to play with.

Latest and probably the best image of the dusty chopper yet taken , picture acquired on April 16, 2023.

Ingenuity indeed.

a reply to: gortex

Honestly I didn't expect that little dude could do any of what it has done.
I am franking proud of all that made this happen!
This proof of concept has worked so much better than expected and I am sure has mass amounts of date and will continue to do so.
Go space!!!

a reply to: Allaroundyou

This proof of concept has worked so much better than expected and I am sure has mass amounts of date and will continue to do so.

Absolutely , it's also the template for other helicopters to be sent to other places in our Solar System , a new dawn of Space exploration awaits.

Next time they should drop a bouncy ball with a swarm of helicopters inside with AI tech that automatically seek the planet for anomalies, that being mars stuff that it cannot identify when comparing to the "found mars stuff" folder.

a reply to: Spacespider

Hmmm not a bad idea and would be very interesting to do!

I would pressume that in order to do so they would have to go the bouncy ball method of landing.
A select few current and past space agencies have used the bouncy ball way.

I like your brain

originally posted by: Spacespider
Next time they should drop a bouncy ball with a swarm of helicopters inside with AI tech that automatically seek the planet for anomalies, that being mars stuff that it cannot identify when comparing to the "found mars stuff" folder.

I hope NASA thinks twice before building a swarm of anything. I know it's a big planet but we're littering it up just with the landers there so far. I'm not suggesting they stop the progress. Just give it some thought. Look at the ring of junk around Earth.