"When running an accident investigation from 100 million miles away, you don't have any black boxes!" NASA's Håvard Grip said.

After over 70 flights, the Ingenuity helicopter — the first craft to ever make a powered, controlled flight on another planet — crashed in the Martian dunes in January 2024. But its unexpected achievement (engineers hoped it might make five flights) has prompted the conceptual design and planning for what the agency calls its "Mars Chopper."

A featureless stretch of terrain confused the helicopter’s navigation system resulting in a hard landing that snapped its rotor blades.