NASA Temporarily Grounds the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, the agency that manages Ingenuity's mission, decided to give the Mars helicopter a break from its operation.

There's more dust in the air and less sunlight in Mars this month since it's now dust season and winter on the planet. Thus, the JPL team has decided to ground Ingenuity for the mean time and give the helicopter's batteries a break for a few weeks.

NASA Mars Rover Helicopter: Where to Track Ingenuity Location After Latest Flight in Red Planet — The Mars Rover and Helicopter are heading south and you can follow along their journey. Find out how you can see where Perseverance and Ingenuity are on the Jezero Crater. NASA via Getty Images

Ingenuity is Expected to be Back in the Air in August

In a tweet, NASA's JPL announced on Thursday, July 14, that Ingenuity will be halting its operations for the next several weeks.

The #MarsHelicopter is taking a break for the next few weeks. It’s winter and dust season on Mars, which means less sunlight to recharge Ingenuity’s batteries. But don’t worry, the team expects the rotorcraft to fly again in August. https://t.co/SzmZg7ln7l pic.twitter.com/VJIPsAb0aE
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) July 14, 2022

Ingenuity is the first aircraft to make a powered flight on an extraterrestrial world. It is expected to be back in the Martian air around the start of August, according to NASA.

According to Space.com, Mars has "a slightly tilted axis in respect to its orbital plane," like Earth. This means, over the course of a year, the planet's northern and southern hemispheres is reached by different amounts of sunlight.

Mars, therefore, experiences distinct seasons. Martian winter is set to happen over the next few weeks. This means there will be more dust in the air, which will block out the sunlight that Ingenuity needs to recharge.

According to a NASA statement that was published on Wednesday, July 13, "dust levels are expected to subside later in July."

Thus, for the remaining weeks of July, the team has decided to give the helicopter's batteries a break to "build their daily state of charge back up."

Other Mars Rovers Also Experience Hibernation Like Ingenuity

Over the years, there are other Mars rovers that have to take similar pauses from their operation during the Martian winter season as well.

For the same reason as Ingenuity, China's Zhurong rover underwent hibernation on May 18.

Likewise, the harsh condition during winter in Mars threatened the lifespan of NASA's past rovers like Opportunity. As a matter of fact, the life of the solar-powered Opportunity ended because of a giant, sun-blocking dust storm in 2018.

However, according to NASA, their team is confident that, if permitted by the weather, Ingenuity will make it through safe and sound.

In the summer of 2020, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter was launched. The helicopter landed in Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021. It was attached to the underside of the Perseverance rover.

Weeks later, the Perseverance rover deployed the helicopter. On April 19, 2021 Ingenuity took its first flight.

The first flight of the 4-pound or 1.8 kilograms Ingenuity helicopter lasted only 39 seconds. It saw Ingenuity hovering around 10 feet or 3 meters above the reddish soil of a site named Wright Brothers Field.

As of writing, Ingenuity has made a total of 29 flights. It has a total of 55 minutes of air time. This record exceeded its original planned mission of just five flights.

The 25th successful flight of Ingenuity, which happened on April 8, 2022, set a new record for the highest speed and distance traveled during a single flight.