NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter plays hide and seek on Mars

NASA's tiny Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, scripted history as the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. Despite facing several changes along the way, the rotorcraft has proven its value in providing tactical and scientific scouting for the mission. Recently, the mission team faced a significant setback when they experienced an unforeseen week-long communication blackout with the tiny aircraft.

"In more than 700 sols operating the helicopter on Mars, not once had we ever experienced a total radio blackout," Travis Brown, Chief Engineer, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wrote in a blog post.

The first-of-its-kind communications blackout started on Sol 755 and shortly after this missed communication, the Perseverance rover, which accompanies Ingenuity on Mars, moved to a location southeast of Castell Henllys to conduct scientific investigations in the area. This placed the rover in a deep communications shadow, further complicating efforts to establish contact with Ingenuity. As the search for the helicopter continued, the team considered various scenarios and explanations for the communication blackout.

After several sols without any communication, Ingenuity's communications team received a single, lonely radio acknowledgement (ACK) from Ingenuity on Sol 761. This acknowledgement came precisely at the time when the team expected the helicopter to wake up. Another ACK on Sol 762 confirmed that Ingenuity was indeed alive and functioning, providing much-needed relief for the team.

The blackout was attributed to the challenging topology between the rover and the helicopter, particularly the presence of a moderate ridge located southeast of the Flight 49 landing site. This ridge created a communications shadow and added difficulty to the radio signals used by Ingenuity. The situation improved only when the rover moved closer to the helicopter, reducing the impact of the ridge.

Following the re-establishment of communication, Perseverance accelerated its movements up the Jezero delta, getting closer to Ingenuity. This presented a dilemma for the Ingenuity team as they needed to uplink a flight plan to keep the helicopter ahead of the rover. Despite the lack of recent communication, the team took the risk and successfully commanded Ingenuity's 50th flight. The helicopter covered over 300 meters, achieving a new altitude record of 18 meters.

However, challenges persist for Ingenuity. The dust covering its solar panel suggests it will remain in a transitional power state for some time, prolonging the challenges of maintaining communication and the team's game of hide and seek with the aircraft.

"This means that, much to the chagrin of her team, we are not yet done playing this high-stakes game of hide and seek with the playful little helicopter," Brown said.