“The team’s goal is to keep Ingenuity ahead of Perseverance, which occasionally involves temporarily pushing beyond communication limits,” Anderson added. “We’re excited to be back in communications range with Ingenuity and receive confirmation of Flight 52.”

All communications to and from Ingenuity must be routed through Perseverance. That explains the recent silent spell, which the two mission teams had expected: The rover had disappeared behind a hill from the helicopter’s perspective, and it didn’t come back into view until June 28.