This happened last month. On January 6, Ingenuity flew 40 feet (12 meters) skyward but then made an unplanned early landing after just 35 seconds. Twelve days later, operators intended to troubleshoot the vehicle with a quick up-and-down test. Data from the vehicle indicated that it ascended to 40 feet again during this test, but then communications were ominously lost at the end of the flight.
I imagine the entire RC copter community has ideas on how to jury rig Ingenuity back into flight, while knowing it will only work for like 25 seconds.
It’s traditional to try to make one more (usually catastrophic) flight before making a trip to fetch the correct repair parts.
I’m not sure if that tradition holds on Mars, but I look forward to finding out.
Sounds like NASA is of a similar mindset already.
That’s amazing. Thank you.