On Tuesday, May 3, Ingenuity went quiet. NASA’s little helicopter on Mars failed to check in with its rover partner-in-crime, Perseverance, to send data and receive commands from Earth. This was a first. Ingenuity never missed a communication session during its entire stay on Mars.
But NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) had an inkling as to why it was silent. They believe it was because the helicopter went into a low-power state due to the increase in Martian dust in the atmosphere. Winter is coming to the Red Planet, which means there’s more dust blocking out the sunlight and creating colder temperatures. This spells trouble for the solar-powered Ingenuity.
According to the JPL team, Ingenuity likely went dark to preserve its energy and recharge its batteries. This paused its internal clock, causing it to ‘sleep’ through its scheduled meeting time. (Very relatable.) By the time its batteries recharged, its clock was out of sync with Perseverance’s clock. When Ingenuity thought it was time to call Perseverance, the rover didn’t pick up.
To fix this, JPL told Perseverance to pause its mission and spend the day listening for Ingenuity’s call. When it finally came, the helicopter confirmed it was healthy and spending its time slowly recharging. The little ‘bot was doing all right.
Winter is coming for Ingenuity
But this isn’t the end of Ingenuity’s winter woes. The nights will get colder and colder from now on. Ingenuity is already spending more energy using its heater to keep its vital parts from freezing overnight. With reduced sunlight during the day and greater energy use at night, Ingenuity has to maintain a delicate balance of battery power to make it through the season.
The team suspects this is why the helicopter went into low power mode in the first place. It couldn’t recharge enough during the day.
“We have always known that Martian winter and dust storm season would present new challenges for Ingenuity,” Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity Team Lead at NASA’s JPL, said in a media release. “Every flight and every mile of distance flown beyond our original 30-sol mission has pushed the spacecraft to its limits each and every sol on Mars.”
A “sol” is a Martian day, which is approximately 24 hours and 37 minutes long. A year on Mars is equivalent to 687 Earth days. That means Ingenuity has to survive a very long and cold season.
Frankly, the little helicopter might not be able to handle the Martian winter. The extreme cold and dust storms have taken out bigger rovers like NASA’s Opportunity. But I’m still holding out some hope for Ingenuity. It has exceeded expectations from the moment it touched down on Mars. I would love to see it surpass this challenge, too.
NASA’s helicopter has gone above and beyond
When Ingenuity landed on Mars with Perseverance in February 2021, the helicopter had one job: prove to the world that powered flight is possible on the Red Planet.
Hitching a ride on the belly of Perseverance, Ingenuity was released in a suitable takeoff/landing spot. In April 2021, it became the first aircraft in history to make a powered flight on another planet. In a video taken by Perseverance (like a parent watching their kid’s first solo ride on a bicycle), the helicopter lunged 10 feet into the air, hovered, and then plopped back down on the Martian ground. The first flight test was a success.
It continued its scheduled test flights over the next 30 sols, gradually increasing the difficulty of its flights. First was up and down, then left to right, and then increasing speed and altitude. Ingenuity passed with flying colors. With its NASA masters satisfied, the helicopter proved it could switch into a new demonstration phase to show how other controlled aircraft can assist with future missions to Mars.
“The Ingenuity technology demonstration has been a resounding success,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in a statement. “Since Ingenuity remains in excellent health, we plan to use it to benefit future aerial platforms while prioritizing and moving forward with the Perseverance rover team’s near-term science goals.”
Since then, Ingenuity has been busy scouting the surface of Mars. The aerial views it provides have been illuminating and helpful in determining the best path for Perseverance to take as it rovers around. Ingenuity has also flown close to the ground to capture detailed images of sand dunes and rocky cliffs; adapted to seasonal changes in the planet’s atmospheric density by successfully spinning its rotors faster; and took photos of Perseverance’s landing gear, which is now nothing but scattered debris, for a visual analysis back on Earth.
As of April 2022, Ingenuity has made 28 successful flights.
Ingenuity lives up to its name
The team behind Ingenuity truly lives up to the helicopter’s name: they are clever, original, and inventive thinkers. I truly hope their plans to help Ingenuity live through the winter will work. But the odds seem slim, if not impossible.
“We are now operating far outside our original design limits,” wrote Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity team lead. “Historically, Mars is very challenging for spacecraft (particularly solar-powered spacecraft). Each sol could be Ingenuity’s last.”
Right now, Ingenuity is only recharging about 68 percent of its battery by sunset, Tzanetos explained, which isn’t ideal. The helicopter needs at least 70 percent to stay powered overnight. By the time Mars reaches its Winter solstice, that deficit could increase. Although Ingenuity is currently healthy and undamaged, the flight team appears to be keeping their hopes grounded. There’s no telling whether the helicopter’s core can stay warm enough to prevent freezing at night during the winter. This was the same problem that killed Mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit.
That isn’t stopping them from creating backup plans just in case Ingenuity makes it past Winter. If it survives, they plan to give it some good upgrades to continue its role as Perseverance’s overachieving, aerial scout.
