Engineers at JPL today monitored a final transmission from the disabled Mars helicopter Ingenuity.
Mars rover Perseverance is ready to move on west for exploration of the Jezero crater rim.
Ingenuity will no longer be able to communicate with earth, but newly loaded software will allow it to make and store measurements every day, to be retrieved by a future robotic or human mission. Ingenuity’s memory could potentially hold about 20 years’ worth of daily data.
During a short up and down Flight 72, Mars helicopter Ingenuity lost its comm link with rover Perseverance. NASA engineers are working on restoring it.
This follows Flight 71 on Jan 6 which made an emergency landing 35 seconds into a 125 sec flight; apparently the relatively featureless sandy terrain proved difficult for its navigation system.
Meanwhile, Voyager 1 is still sending garbled data.
Mars Helicopter Ingenuity was just a 30-day technology demonstration mission to test powered, controlled flight on another world.
Ingenuity completed its tech demo phase after the 3rd flight on April 25, 2021. After another 2 flights, it transitioned to a new operations demonstration phase.
Almost 3 years later, Ingenuity has completed 72 flights and is still going strong in support of the overall mission.
CBI Image of the Day: The computer-laden fuselage of NASA's flying laboratory, the Galileo II, included dead-reckoning software, created by the Informatics General Corp., which was used to direct the plane's monitoring equipment for experiments, 1985.
An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot had to be subdued by a flight crew and handcuffed to a seat after attempting to turn the engines off by pulling the emergency handles, officials say. He is now being charged with 83 counts of attempted murder and reckless endangerment, as well as one count of endangering an aircraft, after the flight was diverted to Portland.
#OnThisDay, May 21, in 1927, pilot Charles Lindbergh landed the Spirit of St. Louis in Paris, becoming the first person to make a solo transatlantic flight (depicted in The Spirit of St. Louis, 1957)
#AirAsia has converted 36 of its #A321neo (new engine option) orders to #A321LR (long-range) as it aims to merge its #shorthaul and #longhaul divisions into one global network
The decision to change aircraft type is so that AirAsia could have more flying range to connect the #SoutheastAsia region to Africa, Europe and America
"Unhappiness with air travel took a new turn when maggots rained down on passengers on a Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday.
A passenger reportedly brought rotten fish on to the plane in a carry-on bag, and placed it in an overhead bin, before the maggots broke free and rained on to passengers seated below, the Independent reported."
Air Force funds 'blended wing body' plane design for long-range, fuel-efficient flight (www.popsci.com)
Although funded by the military, this design could one day be applied to commercial flight as well.