I love how well this little aircraft has worked out. The official mission for it was to validate an idea - to conduct five flights to demonstrate that it was possible, so that future missions could potentially include a little scout drone that could fly ahead and help find routes through difficult terrain. Then it worked so well that they started doing that on this mission, too - they're past fifty flights now and have been using photos from Ingenuity to plan Perseverance's next moves. The team who built this little drone must be thrilled.
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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It's a slightly clickbaity headline, since it suggests this was a worrying problem, as opposed to part of the plan.
the recent silent spell, which the two mission teams had expected: The rover had disappeared behind a hill from the helicopter's perspective, and it didn't come back into view until June 28.
amazing little copter
The endurance of all the mars bots is staggering. Well done, engineers!