Everything from the design to the testing protocol had been developed from scratch. He described the groundbreaking helicopter's testing lab as a poor man's wind tunnel...
From a mechanical engineering perspective, Ingenuity was a decisive victory, completing 71 successful flights. But the helicopter also had an Achilles' heel: the autonomous navigation software...
On what would become the helicopter's final flight, when NASA directed Ingenuity to land on a bland, sandy flat, the craft lost its bearings, tilted over sharply, and drove a rotor into the sand, snapping off the blade's tip...
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