The crash of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was primarily caused by its navigation system being misled by featureless terrain, which led to incorrect velocity estimates.
Navigation errors resulted in high horizontal velocities upon touchdown, likely causing a hard impact on the steep slopes of the Martian sand ripples.
NASA engineers now believe rotor blades snapped off due to rapid attitudes during the crash that imposed loads beyond their design limits.
Despite being grounded, Ingenuity continues to transmit valuable weather and avionics data to the Perseverance rover, aiding future Martian vehicle developments.
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