According to a press release from Jet Propulsion Laboratory, US space agency NASA said goodbye to its Mars Ingenuity helicopter on Tuesday, marking the end of the mission. The helicopter was dispatched to the red planet in 2021 to gather data.
The JPL managers received the last communication from the Ingenuity helicopter, which was relayed to Earth after it accomplished the necessary goal of flying 72 times through Mars’ thin atmosphere. The last one took place on January 18.
“With apologies to Dylan Thomas, Ingenuity will not be going gently into that good Martian night,” stated John Anderson, a team lead at JPL.
Additionally, he said, “It is almost unbelievable that after over 1,000 Martian days on the surface, 72 flights, and final mission data.”
