Ingenuity: Damage puts end to Mars helicopter mission

Video caption, Watch Ingenuity's first flight: It climbed to 3m, hovered and then landed

Nasa's Ingenuity helicopter, which made history by being the first helicopter-powered craft to fly on another planet, has crashed out of its mission and broken down.

In a statement, Nasa said the aircraft was forced to perform an "emergency landing" that damaged its rotors so much that its mission is now over.

Nasa boss Bill Nelson said: "That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped Nasa do what we do best - make the impossible, possible."

He said Ingenuity had "paved the way for future flight in our Solar System".

Video caption, Nasa Ingenuity: First ever helicopter flight on Mars

The famous Mars-copter is said to still be "upright" but images showed that "one or more of its rotor blades" were damaged and it was "no longer capable of flight".

Nasa said they are looking into what exactly happened.

Image source, NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Image caption, Ingenuity was only expected to fly perhaps four or five times

Ingenuity reached the Red Planet in February 2021, by piggy-backing along with the Perseverance rover.

It was meant to be on a short tech demonstration to prove flight was possible in the Martian atmosphere.

But the vehicle went on to explore Mars's Jezero Crater, examining areas that might be of interest, and helping the wheeled robot and its drivers on Earth pick the right path.

Despite a few wobbles, Ingenuity performed 72 flights and flew more than 14 times farther than originally planned.