NASA's tiny Mars Helicopter makes short hop after two-month hiatus

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter recently made a short hop, Flight 30, to let the mission team check out its health and clear off the dust that was settled on its solar panel since Flight 29, which was over two months ago on June 11.

Ingenuity was given a break as dust season and winter commenced on Mars - high dust levels in the air and less sunlight or lower daytime temperatures make it difficult for the tiny rotorcraft to keep itself warm and obtain enough solar energy to maintain charge in its batteries.

Ingenuity has now experienced more than 100 sols (Martian days) of overnight freezing and it's still wintering at the Red Planet's Jezero Crater. However, during the day the panel continues to create enough charge to make shorter hops possible, according to NASA.

The #MarsHelicopter is back in flight! After a two-month hiatus, the rotorcraft did a short hop over the weekend so the team can check its vitals and knock some dust off the solar panel. Learn more about why the team wanted a simple Flight 30: https://t.co/02Bn48aQ3Y pic.twitter.com/bnCUG794Ks

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) August 22, 2022

"With higher battery states of charge will come longer flights, and eventually Ingenuity will be able to power its internal heaters overnight, which will stop its electronics from freezing in the Martian cold each evening," the mission team said in a statement.

A flight-software upgrade is also planned for September 2022 that will enable new navigation capabilities so that the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter can fly better across the challenging river delta terrain in the months ahead.

Ingenuity landed on Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover. The helicopter was planned to complete no more than five flights, but it has already completed 30 flights. It is currently around 96 million miles away.