must come to an end. 

But what a run!  A late add-on to Perseverance's primary Mars mission, Ingenuity was designed merely as a proof of concept - a tech demonstrator. It was never intended to last more than maybe 30 days in the harsh Martian environment and hopefully perform a few short test hops to see if it was even possible for a heavier-than-air craft to fly in an atmosphere 6 tenths of one percent as dense as that of Earth's.

Instead, the little 'copter that could lasted almost 5 years, flying 11 miles over a span of 70+ flights. It even created its own improvised mission role, scouting the way forward for the Perseverance surface rover - something it was never designed to do.

Talk about a virtuoso feat of engineering. For all our faults, humans can do marvelous, audaciously spectacular things when we put our minds to it.

Bet the next one has protected rotors, possibly a ducted fan setup.

Quote from: NT2C on January 26, 2024, 02:05:25 PMBet the next one has protected rotors, possibly a ducted fan setup.

Kind of like some newer drones on the market ?

Quote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on January 26, 2024, 02:50:41 PM

Quote from: NT2C on January 26, 2024, 02:05:25 PMBet the next one has protected rotors, possibly a ducted fan setup.

Kind of like some newer drones on the market ?

Like this

Quote from: flybynight on January 27, 2024, 04:44:32 AM

Quote from: 12_Gauge_Chimp on January 26, 2024, 02:50:41 PM

Quote from: NT2C on January 26, 2024, 02:05:25 PMBet the next one has protected rotors, possibly a ducted fan setup.

Kind of like some newer drones on the market ?

Like this

So it'd be a space frisbee ?