Martian helicopter did not crash: NASA has re-established contact with Ingenuity and investigates incident

The United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has reported the restoration of communication with the Martian helicopter, Ingenuity, which unexpectedly lost communication during its 72nd flight over the surface of the Red Planet. Ingenuity had concluded its previous flight prematurely for unknown reasons, prompting NASA specialists to conduct a system check on the helicopter this time.

"Good news today: we have regained contact with #MarsHelicopter after @NASAPersevere was instructed to conduct extended listening sessions for Ingenuity's signal," announced NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on Sunday. The JPL added that its specialists are currently examining new data to better understand the cause of the unexpected loss of communication during the 72nd flight. It's worth noting that NASA scientists have previously encountered instances of communication loss with Ingenuity, with the latest occurrence in May of this year.

The Martian helicopter continues to exceed NASA's initial schedule. In December, along with the Perseverance rover, Ingenuity marked its 1000th day on the Red Planet and set a new record for the longest flight distance on Mars this month.

It is important to highlight that initially, Ingenuity was planned to complete only five flights to demonstrate the feasibility of using rotorcraft on Mars.