NASA re-established contact with intrepid Ingenuity Mars Helicopter after more than 2 months of radio silence

American Space Agency, NASA, on 30 June 2023, Friday said that it has re-established contact with the intrepid Ingenuity Mars Helicopter after more than two months of radio silence. Data so far indicate that the helicopter is in good condition. Mission controllers of Ingenuity’s 52nd flight launched on 26th April, however, lost contact as it descended to the surface following its two-minute, 363-meter hop.

Meanwhile, the loss of communications was expected, because a hill stood between Ingenuity and Perseverance, which acts as a relay between the drone and Earth. The mini rotorcraft, which hitched a ride to the Red Planet with the Perseverance rover in early 2021, has survived well beyond its initial 30-day mission.

Since then, it has been deployed dozens of times, acting as an aerial scout to assist its wheeled companion in searching for signs of ancient microbial life from billions of years ago, when Mars was much wetter and warmer than today.