[A Navy Vet]

I don’t see the point or expense of this thing. NASA is behind Elon Musk’s curve.

[Yossarian]

Actually, NASA JPL just tweeted out 35 minutes ago that the (delayed) 4th flight was a success:

https://twitter.com/NASAJPL/status/1388200058491789315

"Success 👏 #MarsHelicopter completed its 4th flight, going farther & faster than ever before. It also took more photos as it flew over the Martian surface. We expect those images will come down in a later data downlink, but @NASAPersevere 's Hazcam caught part of the flight."

[Yossarian]

Also, NASA JPL is going to experiment with using little Ingenuity into an operational role: NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter to Begin New Demonstration Phase

The Red Planet rotorcraft will shift focus from proving flight is possible on Mars to demonstrating flight operations that future aerial craft could utilize.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has a new mission. Having proven that powered, controlled flight is possible on the Red Planet, the Ingenuity experiment will soon embark on a new operations demonstration phase, exploring how aerial scouting and other functions could benefit future exploration of Mars and other worlds.

[Paladin2]

Are they going to use this to herd Martians over the local Martian Jump?

Otherwise what is its purpose?

Why can’t they use a camera equipped boomerang?

[Clemenza]

NASA is a waste of tax dollars. Boomer men with nostalgia seem to disagree.

[mowowie]

Hopefully someday these helicopters will eventually make the next 10 multi-gazillion dollar rovers obsolete..
“One step at a time” for rovers costing a billion dollars a pop....OK NASA

Of course THOSE helicopters will cost multi-billions...

PS
WHERE is the James Webb telescope?
Jeeeeezzz....
If that fails there should be public hangings..

[exinnj]

I’m devastated...

[Yardstick]

I’m a little surprised we haven’t seen some cool video from the helicopter yet. So far we’ve gotten a few still images from the heli and some zoomed-out low frame rate stuff from the rover but nothing to really sink your teeth into. My impression is they had limited processing power and prioritized flight data over imagery, which is probably the right move for scientific purposes, but as a PR thing it kinda leaves the fans wanting more. But maybe there’s more satisfying stuff coming down the pipeline in due time.