Weekly - Ingenuity too damaged to fly and more

Weekly Space News - Quick and Easy

Ingenuity too damaged to fly

Last week, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter met with an accident during its 72nd flight. As a result of a rough landing where it accidentally crashed onto the rocky Martian ground, the craft’s rotor was severely damaged and a tip had broken off. This makes the craft too damaged to ever fly again. However, it exceeded its expected mission life of 30 days or 5 flights.

NASA finally opens asteroid sample canister

After the Osiris-ReX spacecraft returned samples from the asteroid Bennu, most of the samples were retrieved successfully. However, difficulties were faced when trying to retrieve the sample stuck in the head of one such canister due to 2 stubborn fasteners. Last week, after 4 months of effort, the scientists were finally able to open the canister and retrieve the samples inside.