The robots we sent to Mars to probe the planet and collect samples for signs of ancient life have all been doing a tremendous job on the red planet. Recently, the Ingenuity Helicopter which was aboard the Perseverance rover recently caught a view of its mothership after making its 11th flight on Mars.
If you can remember, NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down at the Jezero Crater back on Feb. 18th and has continued to survey that part of the planet for signs of ancient life due to the composition of the area.
“Ingenuity’s aerial images are awesome — but even better when you get to play ‘Where’s Perseverance?’ with them,” Robert Hogg, an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a NASA statement. “Once you find our rover and zoom in, you can make out some details, like the wheels, remote sensing mast, and the MMRTG [Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator] on the aft end.”
In the picture/video taken of the Perseverance rover, the Ingenuity helicopter continues to fly across the vast cold deserts of the planet at about 39 feet (12 meters) above the planet while the helicopter has gone as far as 1,600 feet (500 meters) away from the rover.
NASA further detailed that the helicopter took off on August 5th at approximately 12:50 a.m. EDT (0450 GMT) and then flew north-by-northwest for 130.9 seconds at a speed of about 11 mph (18 kph)
“Flight 11 was essentially designed to keep Ingenuity ahead of the rover, allowing it to continue to support Perseverance’s science goals by photographing intriguing geologic features from the air,” NASA officials said in the statement.
The helicopter is expected to fly above this region of Jezero Crater, called “South Seítah,” at least one more time during its mission on the Red Planet.
You must be logged in to post a comment.