Contact restored with NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter

Jan. 22 (UPI) -- NASA has restored contact with its little Perseverance Mars helicopter, which had gone silent after 72nd mission, the space agency said.

Communication ceased with the vehicle Thursday after its mission. But on Saturday, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said on social media that contact had been re-established, and that team members were reviewing fresh data to get a better understanding of what led to the communication blackout.

The $80 million helicopter craft first landed on Martian surface in April 2021 and was meant to test a powered, controlled mission on a different planet.

The Ingenuity demonstration was completed after three successful flights and then transitioned to a new operations demonstration phase "to explore how future rovers and aerial explorers can work together."