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Are images of the damage available to the public? "Imagery revealing damage to the rotor blade arrived several days later." https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/after-three-years-on-mars-nasa...
Probably because of this https://xkcd.com/695/
NASA has done an effective job at connecting with regular people. Goes to show, how even something as small as naming something differently makes a big shift in the mindset.
They should auction it off. For pickup only, of course. I'd like to own the first helicopter on Mars.
Rest in Peace little dude https://xkcd.com/695/
For some reason, this kind of news always makes me sad. Like emotionally. Probably because of this https://xkcd.com/695/ NASA has done an effective job at connecting with regular people. Goes to show, how even something as small as naming something differently makes a big shift in the mindset.
They're gonna have trouble justifying buying the extended warranty next time.
They should auction it off. For pickup only, of course. I'd like to own the first helicopter on Mars.
Not only could they have fun with that stage but it'd be a fun race to see who could get it for them. Then have a big show when it's brought back to Earth and delivered to the owner.
I could see SpaceX and FedEx team up for some amusing PR on that one.
Damage to the blade tip is apparent in the shadow. But I would try one more flight just to see how it fares in such conditions, if it can be corrected in software etc.
Can they just do one more #YOLO flight at a high speed and high altitude as possible and see what happens? Seems more useful and fun than just leaving it to rot.
Probably don't want any flying debris hitting the rover.
But I agree that it's better to leave it, download the remaining images and data from memory, maybe leave the software running as an experiment in non-rad-hardened computers on the surface, and eventually put it in a museum, than risk it crashing in spectacular fashion.
The Perseverance rover is currently too far away to attempt to image the helicopter at its final airfield.
Anyway, R.I.P. Ingenuity and kudos to Nasa for another excellent piece of tech that lasted on another planet for years longer than originally planned.