NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter has lost contact.

Ingenuity executives lost contact with the 4-pound (1.8 kilogram) helicopter at the end of its 72nd flight to Mars on Thursday, Jan. 18. “Ingenuity data sent to the Perseverance rover (which acts as a relay between the helicopter and Earth) during the flight indicates that it successfully climbed to its designated maximum altitude of 40 feet (12 meters),” NASA officials wrote in an updated report. Friday, January 19.

“During the planned landing, communication between the helicopter and the rover was lost early before landing,” they added. “The Ingenuity team is analyzing available data and evaluating next steps to re-establish contact with the helicopter.”

Ingenuity and Perseverance touched down together in February 2021 at the bottom of the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Lake Crater, which contained a large lake and river delta billions of years ago.

Perseverance is searching for evidence of past life on Mars and collecting samples for future return to Earth. Ingenuity is serving as a scout for the car-sized rover on an extended mission from NASA after the small helicopter completes the technology’s initial five-flight demonstration campaign in spring 2021. Maybe it’s time for Perseverance to return the favor and help its little robot cousin.

“Perseverance is currently out of Ingenuity’s field of view, but the team may consider moving closer for visual inspection,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the missions for both robots, said in a statement via X on Friday. said.

Ingenuity was aloft for more than 128 minutes and traveled a total of 11 miles (17.7 kilometers) during its 72 flights to Mars, according to the mission’s flight log. It is not yet clear whether these numbers will continue to increase. We’ll have to wait to see if Ingenuity’s operators can reconnect with the pioneering helicopter, the first vehicle to explore the skies of a world beyond Earth.