The JPL Mars helicopter - Ingenuity - which hitched a ride under the mars rover Perseverance, has finally been grounded. three years after its arrival. Originally it was purely only intended as a technology demonstrator with an expected mission duration of just 30 days, the fragile little copter performed 72 individual flights and returned some stunning images of both the terrain and its roving partner.
Unfortunately, a communications black out on January 18 and a forced landing left Ingenuity with a damaged rotor, meaning it was no longer able to fly. As NASA are unable to effect a repair, the little vehicle was finally decommissioned and left to sit on the martian surface as a monument to its amazing achievements.
Growing up in the sixties at the height of the space race, I was a keen collector of space toys. Tri-ang Spacex and Marx both produced 'space helicopters', which the pedantically realistic me, could not accept as being able to fly on an airless world - especially, the Marx Moon Scout copter, presumably intended for lunar exploration! Helicopter P3 from Tri-ang, did turn out to be an Earth based security patrol craft, which I eventually accepted!
There have been many proposals for small aerial probes to be used to explore Mars, from balloons and dirigibles to gliders and aircraft. Ingenuity proved that a rotor based craft could operate in the thin martian atmosphere and perform its duties remarkably well.
Once again, sixties toy makers seized on the idea of 'space balloons' and the Topper Johnny Astro set, used a controllable fan in the shape of a radar dish to direct a balloon 'capsule' to a safe landing on a plastic lunar terrain, r later on to a small Mars diorama. Its interesting to see the depiction of Mars on the 1967 box art as having large areas of green and the distinctive martian canals.
Plans are being developed for delta winged gliders to operate in the martian atmosphere and the NASA Dragonfly project is aiming to send a multi rotorcraft to Saturns moon Titan some time in 2028.
The Dragonfly Probe will be a much larger and more substantial affair, around the size of a small car. Due to Titan's much thicker atmosphere and thick 1.8 Earth normal gravity, the probe will use four dual rotor mounts. Titan nights last 8 Earth days, during which the probe will be grounded to recharge its batteries via a nuclear isotope.
