NASA has lost contact with the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars
NASA has lost contact with the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars
The dropout occurred on Thursday (Jan. 18), during Ingenuity's 72nd Red Planet flight.
There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
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Let's say the worst case is true and the helicopter is dead. I can't get over the fact that they managed 72 flights remote controlling it from another planet!
"remote control" even less than the rover itself. It is a pre-defined flight path. There is no control during the flight. Let me copy from wiki:
It proved that flight was possible on other planets without the direct human control that the finite speed of light makes impractical (depending on the positions of the two planets, radio signals take between 5 and 20 minutes to travel between the Earth and Mars).[13] As a result of this delay Ingenuity must autonomously perform the maneuvers planned, scripted and transmitted to it by its operators.
Scripted and transmitted to it by its operators
So you mean remote controlled.
No more than a book is instant messaging.