Onboard Autonomous Health Assessment and Global Localization nfor the Mars Helicopter: Towards Multi-Flight Operations

NASA's Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, performed the first successful powered, controlled flight on another planet on April 19, 2021, marking a historic moment in the advancement of space robotics. Since then, Ingenuity performed 72 successful flights over its lifespan, well over 10 times what it was originally planned to do. Part of Ingenuity's longevity is due to an extensive post-flight, ground-in-the-loop cycle in which the system's health, flight-readiness, and location are rigorously ascertained from expert analysis of downlinked data by human engineers. However, this process not only requires the time and attention of engineers, it also prevents the helicopter from engaging in multi-flight operations, sometimes for days, severely limiting its potential science productivity. In this paper, we present our recent effort developing a fully onboard, automated health assessment and global localization software for the spacecraft. We discuss the challenges presented by the problem setting itself, the mission parameters that influenced our approach and evaluations, and present initial results from both contributions in the context of Ingenuity, which flew the onboard health assessment software in January 2024.