Abstract - 55th LPSC (2024)
Introduction: The Mars Helicopter Ingenuity was designed to operate for a prime mission of just 30 sols on the martian surface, but has successfully continued to fly for almost 1.5 Mars years (3 Earth-years) [1,2]. The solar-powered vehicle has completed over 70 flights and survived both a winter as well as regional dust storms that have passed through Jezero crater. The solar array powering Ingenuity has inevitably slowly accumulated dust throughout the mission. Some dust is likely removed during flights as well as passively by martian winds and saltating sand. However, a net result of long-term operations has been a decrease in solar array energy output by ~35%. Dust on Mars is primarily lifted by wind-driven saltation of sand and granules [3] and has previously been observed with Spirit and Opportunity [4], InSight [5], Curiosity [6], and Perseverance [7]. In an experiment to potentially clean dust off Ingenuity’s solar array during the November 2023 solar conjunction, Ingenuity strategically landed on a patch of dark-toned aeolian ripples at 77.33365324°E, 18.49481303°N (Fig. 1). In this abstract, we summarize initial results of the observed changes.