NASA completes first aircraft accident investigation on Mars after Ingenuity's final flight

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has completed its final flight, landing in Jezero Crater after 72 successful missions. A technical report on its hard landing will be published on January 18, 2024, marking the first aircraft accident investigation on another planet. The crash was caused by a navigation system failure, which struggled to gather accurate data during flight. Ingenuity ascended to 40 feet but descended rapidly, damaging its rotor blades upon landing. NASA also introduced a new rotorcraft concept called Mars Chopper, which is significantly heavier than Ingenuity and designed for autonomous exploration on Mars. Future missions, like the Dragonfly mission to Titan, will continue to explore other worlds.