NASA is finishing its first off-world accident report

NASA is about to publish the world's first off-world aircraft accident investigation. Aside from making history, the report will help the agency plan ahead for the next generation of flying vehicles that will help humanity explore Mars. NASA engineers only intended the Mars Perseverance Rover's Ingenuity helicopter to complete a maximum of five experimental test flights over 30 days in 2021. The experimental vehicle, however, proved much more durable than expected. Over nearly three more years, Ingenuity ultimately flew 72 more times, racking up more than two hours of aerial travel and traveling 30 times farther than planned.