It was originally designed to make the first powered flight on another world and follow it up with four more trips scything its way through the Martian air.
But NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has now racked up three times as many jaunts after completing a 15th successful flight on the Red Planet on Saturday.
The craft flew at around 11mph for just over two minutes as it started its journey back to its original landing site to reunite with the Mars rover Perseverance.
It was the second flight since a two-week blackout caused by the Red Planet’s position in space.
In flight: NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has now completed a total of 15 flights on the Red Planet
This image shows where Ingenuity is compared to the Perseverance rover on the Red Planet
In a tweet, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote: ‘The #MarsHelicopter successfully completed its 15th flight on Mars.
‘It flew for 128.8 seconds. Preliminary localization places us within our targeted landing zone.
‘Ingenuity opportunistically took images of science interest and they’ll be processed soon.’
The 14th and 15th flights are also the first Ingenuity has completed in Mars’ summertime, when the helicopter’s rotors must turn faster to achieve flight because of the warmer temperatures and lower air density.
It is beginning its journey back to the Wright Brothers Field at the Octavia E. Butler landing site, before venturing beyond, NASA said.
The US space agency added that the helicopter will join Perseverance ‘in the trek north along the east edge of Séítah, before traveling west to reach the Jezero ancient river delta.’
To get there, however, it will need to complete around four to seven flights, Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity team lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory revealed in a blog.
He added that experts are also considering preparing a flight software upgrade for the helicopter, ‘which will potentially enable new navigation capabilities onboard, and better prepare Ingenuity for the challenges ahead’.
It is currently acting as a scout for the Perseverance rover, which is searching for ancient microbial life on the Red Planet.
Ingenuity was previously forced to abort its attempt at a 14th flight last month, prior to the blackout, when data indicated a problem with mechanisms that help control direction and position of the rotors.
This has not been an issue ahead of the last two flights but engineers are concerned that the helicopter’s parts could be weakening because of its extended mission and the stress of extreme temperatures on Mars.
The rovers Perseverance and Curiosity, as well as the lander InSight, also lost connection with Earth from October 2.
During solar conjunction — when Earth and Mars can’t ‘see’ each other — the sun expels hot, ionized gas from its hot outer atmosphere, or corona, and this gas can interfere with radio signals if engineers try to communicate with spacecraft on the Red Planet.
Perseverance was stationed 575ft (175m) away from Ingenuity during the blackout.
The rover took weather measurements, looked for dust devils with its cameras, and captured new sounds with its microphones as part of its ‘homework’.
Perseverance is currently heading south from its landing spot on the Jezero Crater, while Ingenuity is scouting locations to help it plot its way on the ground.
Ingenuity arrived on Mars attached to the belly of Perseverance, which touched down on Mars on February 18 after a nearly seven-month journey through space.
Perseverance made its first test drive on Mars on March 4, and on April 4, NASA confirmed that Ingenuity had been dropped to the surface of Mars from Perseverance’s ‘belly’ in preparation for its historic flight.
The craft flew at around 11mph for just over two minutes (pictured) as it started its journey back to its original landing site to reunite with the Mars rover Perseverance
Ingenuity (pictured in an artist’s impression) is currently acting as a scout for the Perseverance rover, which is searching for ancient microbial life on the Red Planet