NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity flew successfully for the 17th time on Mars, but faced temporary radio interference due to hills between the aircraft and the Perseverance rover, according to the space agency.
"As Ingenuity began to descend, the line of sight between the rover and helicopter antennas [became] obstructed/shadowed" by the hilly terrain, Teddy Tzanetos, the Mars program lead, wrote in a blog post Tuesday evening.
NASA provided the information about the flight Tuesday and expects to get further data about the flight Wednesday, according to Tzanetos.
The Ingenuity team is investigating the communications issue, and stated it's likely "due to a challenging radio configuration between Perseverance and Ingenuity during landing."
The rover's orientation in relation to Ingenuity, as well as a hill that may have interrupted the radio signal near the end of the journey, could have all contributed to the problem.
The signal strength of a radio is heavily influenced by the quality of the line-of-sight (LOS) between the transmitter and receiver antennas. If the helicopter lands in a depression or on the other side of a hill, that path may be blocked by the terrain itself, or by pieces of the rover's structure if the helicopter lands on the rover's left or back side.
Not only was Ingenuity tasked with communicating across the rover's structure and Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG), but it was also tasked with flying to a landing site that placed a 13-foot hill known as "Bras" (named after a commune in France) in the line of sight between the two antennas.
At a cruise height of 33 feet, Bras posed little of a threat to NASA's radio link for the entirety of the mission. However, as Ingenuity descended, Bras began to obstruct/shadow the line of sight between the rover and helicopter antennas.
Flight 17 of the rotorcraft lasted 117 seconds, and the data it's sent to the rover so far indicates that it landed safely and upright. The Ingenuity team hopes to recover the lost data by Wednesday and conduct a final health check on the chopper.
If everything goes well, Ingenuity could take to the Martian skies again in a few weeks. It's currently returning to its initial landing place and serving as a scout for Perseverance from the air.
The helicopter was billed as a high-risk, high-reward technology test, and it has firmly established itself on the high-reward side of the equation. It has already overcome some minor technical difficulties and continues to soar above the Jezero Crater's tough environment.
