NASA Mars Helicopter

I did some very light processing of this Ingenuity helicopter image showing the Perseverance parachute and back shell (center rear of the image). NASA/JPL- ...

It logged the first powered, controlled flight on another planet, and has remarkably kept going despite being a high-risk technology demonstration. It gives a different perspective on the detritus than what we saw when the rover captured a recent photo of the site. And if not, the pictures are still phenomenal and inspiring."

NASA'S Ingenuity, which is an autonomous helicopter on Mars, has captured eerie images of an 'otherworldly' wreckage on the surface of the Red Planet.

In what looks like a scene from a science fiction movie, NASA’s Ingenuity captured images of the Perseverance rover's landing equipment on Mars’ surface. “Mars Sample Return’s reconnaissance request is a perfect example of the utility of aerial platforms on Mars.” Nicknamed the “Mars Helicopter”, Ingenuity is the first demonstration of controlled flight on another world.

The images should give NASA a better understanding of what exactly happened when Perseverance touched down onto Mars and how to better prepare for future ...

Based on the pictures available, the backshell's protective coating appears to have remained intact. The Ingenuity took 10 aerial color images during its 26th flight on April 19. The rover also had a 70.5 feet wide orange-and-white parachute to help it during its descent.

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, the first powered aircraft ever to fly on another world, just captured aerial photographs of the wrecked remains of some ...

The images provide an eerie snapshot of Martian artifacts, but they are also packed with useful information that mission scientists can use to fine-tune future landings, including a planned mission called Mars Sample Return that will bring the first pristine Martian rocks back to Earth. And if not, the pictures are still phenomenal and inspiring.” During the approach, which was partially captured on film, the rover jettisoned its parachute and backshell.

The Mars helicopter drone Ingenuity has captured aerial photos of the wreckage of the Perseverance landing site.

Ingenuity flew 26 feet above the ground and traveled a distance of 630 feet to the southwest to capture the first picture of the mission. And if not, the pictures are still phenomenal and inspiring.” While the wreckage has been previously photographed by Perseverance on the ground, this perspective provides engineers with more detail and has the potential to help ensure safe landings for future spacecraft. If they either reinforce that our systems worked as we think they worked or provide even one dataset of engineering information we can use for Mars Sample Return planning, it will be amazing. NASA says that vehicles that attempt to land have to deal with extreme gravitational forces and high temperatures as they descend at speeds of nearly 12,500 miles per hour. “NASA extended Ingenuity flight operations to perform pioneering flights such as this,” Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s team lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, says.

The Mars helicopter Ingenuity has snapped eerily desolate photographs of the spent parachute and backshell that conveyed it to the Red Planet.

The parachute and backshell, in the meantime, hit the ground at about 78 mph (126 km/h). The new images show the resulting wreckage. This area represents the remnants of a river delta that once spilled into a lake in the Jezero crater when the Mars surface was wet. At 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometers) altitude, the rover, helicopter and their powered descent stage detached from the backshell and parachute. Previous flights had demonstrated that the helicopter and its pilots could handle the aerial acrobatics, however, he said. NASA scientists hope the images will help them understand how the craft handled the descent and inspire future improvements to the process. The hope is that a future mission to Mars will be able to return samples collected by the Perseverance rover to Earth.

NASA's Mars Ingenuity helicopter has gone far and beyond its original task of completing five flights on the surface of the Red Planet.

Ingenuity’s team is now ready to send the helicopter over a much more hilly region of the Jezero Crater, a region believed to be an ancient river delta. The backshell, for instance, shows that it still has its protective white coating. “If they either reinforce that our systems worked as we think they worked or provide even one dataset of engineering information we can use for Mars Sample Return planning, it will be amazing,” he added.