"During its planned descent, communications between the helicopter and rover terminated early, before touchdown," according to the agency, the Ingenuity team is analyzing available data and considering the next steps to reestablish communications"

During its 72nd flight, NASA reported that contact with its miniature helicopter, Ingenuity, had been lost.

NASA announced late Friday that the agency's experts are working to restore communication, which was cut off unexpectedly on Thursday while the craft was coming down after a test trip.

Bringing the rover Perseverance to Mars in 2021, Ingenuity—which looks like a big drone—became the first motorized vehicle to travel autonomously on a different planet.

Perseverance is used to send data from the helicopter's missions back to Earth.

During the Thursday flight, which NASA described as "a quick pop-up vertical flight to check out the helicopter's systems, following an unplanned early landing during its previous flight," Ingenuity reached a height of 40 feet (12 meters) without incident.

nevertheless "during its planned descent, communications between the helicopter and rover terminated early, prior to touchdown," according to the agency, and that "the Ingenuity team is analyzing available data and considering next steps to reestablish communications."

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said that Perseverance was "out of line-of-sight with Ingenuity, but the team could consider driving closer for a visual inspection" in a post on X, the former Twitter.

NASA has previously lost communication with the chopper, most recently for a torturous two months in the previous year.

Weighing in at a just four pounds (1.8 kilograms), the tiny rotorcraft has accomplished considerably more than its initial mission of five flights over thirty days on the red planet.

It has traveled a total of slightly more than 10 miles (17 kilometers) and as high as 79 feet (24 meters).

Its endurance has been astounding, especially because it needs to withstand the bitterly cold Martian nights while being warmed by the solar panels that replenish its energy reserves during the day. It has accompanied Perseverance on her wheeled companion's search for potential indicators of prehistoric microbial life by acting as an aerial scout.

End//voice7news.tv