NASA Performs First Aircraft Accident Investigation on Another World

NASA Performs First Aircraft Accident Investigation on Another World

Alvin Lieberman Alvin Lieberman

Alvin Lieberman

CHIEF SYSTEMS ENGINEER | PE | ENGR, MSEE, BEE | NASA,FAA,IBM,NRL,USAF,USN,SSPO | S&T | RDT&E | AIAA,IEEE,NSPE,INCOSE,SPIE,ION,ANS,NDIA |

Published Dec 11, 2024
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This graphic depicts the most likely scenario for the hard landing of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 72nd and final flight on Jan. 18, 2024. High horizontal velocities at touchdown resulted in a hard impact on a sand ripple, which caused Ingenuity to pitch and roll, damaging its rotor blades. NASA/JPL-Caltech.Engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and AeroVironment are completing a detailed assessment of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s final flight on Jan. 18, 2024, which will be published in the next few weeks as a NASA technical report. Designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, Ingenuity was the first aircraft on another world. It operated for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 30 times farther than planned while accumulating over two hours of flight time.

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