The first-ever aviation accident on Mars: new findings reveal the cause of the NASA helicopter crash (video).

The first helicopter in history, named Ingenuity, crashed on the Red Planet in January 2024. This incident occurred nearly three years after it began its operations on Mars. The primary objective of the Ingenuity helicopter was to demonstrate that flight is possible in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars. Following the crash, the helicopter did not become completely inoperable but only damaged its rotor blades. According to NASA, the aircraft will still be able to function as a weather station, as reported by Space.

The Ingenuity helicopter was designed to test whether aircraft of this type could achieve flight in Mars' atmosphere, which has a density of just 1% of Earth's atmosphere. NASA's helicopter arrived on Mars in early 2021 alongside the Perseverance rover and made its first flight in April of that year.

Initially, NASA scientists expected that Ingenuity would complete only 5 flights within 30 days, but it ultimately achieved 72 flights over almost three years, covering a total distance of nearly 18 km on Mars. On January 18, 2024, the Martian helicopter made its final flight and crashed, although it was not completely damaged. Only the blades of its rotor were affected. NASA has concluded its investigation into the incident and provided the results.

According to NASA scientists, during the 70th flight, Ingenuity's navigation system failed for the first time. Then, during the 71st flight, issues with the navigation system forced the helicopter to make a hard landing. When the aircraft took off for the 72nd time, it only ascended to a height of 12 meters, hovered in the air for 4.5 seconds, and then fell. As a result of the fall, part of one of the rotor blades flew off 15 meters away. The other blades were severely damaged. NASA had limited data to explain what occurred.

Initially, scientists speculated that the rotor blades directly struck the Martian surface. However, the investigation revealed a different cause. NASA believes that the blades couldn't withstand the intense load when they bent during the hard landing on the Martian surface. This means that the tips of the blades touched the ground, causing them to bend. The crash itself was a result of another failure in Ingenuity’s navigation system, which led to its inability to properly orient itself and ultimately resulted in the crash.

The Ingenuity helicopter will remain on the surface of the Red Planet indefinitely, but it is not inactive, as its instruments and battery are still operational. NASA reported that the helicopter is now functioning as a weather station, collecting environmental data daily and storing it in its onboard computer's memory. Scientists believe that the Martian helicopter could operate in this capacity for another 20 years.

Currently, this data is being received by scientists on Earth, but this will soon change. The reason is that Ingenuity has always transmitted data through the Perseverance rover, which is now 3 km away from the helicopter and continues to move further. Therefore, communication with the helicopter will soon be interrupted. The data collected by Ingenuity as a weather station can be retrieved during the next unmanned or crewed mission to Mars.

NASA also announced that they are already working on a next-generation aircraft that will be sent to Mars and released a video showcasing the device called Mars Chopper.

While it is not yet known when it will be sent to Mars, this new aircraft will feature not one, but six rotor blades, will be heavier than Ingenuity, and will be able to carry more scientific instruments. It is expected that the new Mars Chopper will be capable of flying on Mars every day, covering 3 km each day.