Imagine how much more difficult it would be to diagnose a helicopter accident that took place 69 million miles away with none of the usual data present to help. NASA had to do just that after its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter suffered an accident on Jan.

"When running an accident investigation from 100 million miles away, you don't have any black boxes!" NASA's Håvard Grip said.

Even in death, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter is helping us learn about Mars. The small aircraft met the demise of its main mission on 18 January 2024, after nearly three epic years of flitting around in the thin Martian atmosphere, like the piece of engineering marvel that it is.

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Ingenuity rode to Mars attached to the Perseverance rover's belly. Unlike the rover, which was built from expensive custom hardware designed to withstand the rigors of space exploration, Ingenuity was built from off-the-shelf components like a Snapdragon 801 smartphone processor.

Engineers now say they understand the most likely cause of the Ingenuity helicopter's crash landing on Mars earlier this year.

Ingenuity may never fly above the surface of Mars again, but the downed helicopter is otherwise healthy and could serve as a weather station for decades, JPL says.

The Ingenuity helicopter flew on Mars for an incredible 72 flights. Now, NASA has shared findings of why the mission came to an end.