In this eerie sight, a Mars helicopter views the wreckage of its own landing gear.
The expended parachute and backshell that transported the Mars chopper Ingenuity to the Red Planet have been photographed in eerie desolation.
The photographs, which resemble scenes from a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film, were captured during the small helicopter's 19th journey on Tuesday (April 26). They depict the equipment that shielded the Perseverance rover and the helicopter when they descended to the Martian surface on Feb. 18, 2021. Scientists at NASA are hoping that the photographs will help them better understand how the vehicle managed the drop and inspire future enhancements. It is hoped that materials acquired by the Perseverance rover will be returned to Earth by a future Mars expedition.
In a statement, Ian Clark, a former Perseverance systems engineer and now Mars Sample Return ascent phase director at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, stated, "Perseverance was the best-documented Mars landing in history, with cameras capturing everything from parachute expansion to touchdown." "The visuals of Ingenuity, on the other hand, provide a different perspective. It would be incredible if they either confirm that our systems functioned as expected or supply even a single dataset of engineering data that we can utilise for Mars Sample Return planning. And even if they aren't, the images are stunning and motivating."
The photos were shot from a height of roughly 26 feet (8 metres). According to NASA, Ingenuity lifted off at 11:37 a.m. local Mars time and soared for 159 seconds. It went 1,181 feet (360 metres) and took 10 photos during that time.
"Ingenuity conducted a lot of manoeuvring to capture the photos we required," Hvard Grip, Ingenuity's chief pilot at JPL, said in a statement. However, he stated that previous flights had shown that the helicopter and its pilots could manage the aerial acrobatics.
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The backshell, a saucer-like structure that protected Ingenuity and Perseverance during their final descent, and the parachute, which slowed the vehicle as it reached the Martian soil, are also visible in the photographs. The rover, helicopter, and powered descent stage separated from the backshell and parachute at a height of 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometres). The descending stage's landing engines slowed the rover and chopper even further, guiding them to a smooth landing.
Meanwhile, the parachute and backshell struck the ground at a speed of around 78 mph (126 km/h). The destruction that resulted is seen in the new photographs. According to NASA, the protective covering on the backshell seems to have survived the catastrophic descent into the Martian atmosphere. The high-strength suspension wires that link the backshell to the parachute snake through the dirt and look to be in good condition. A third of the parachute's 70.5-foot (21.5-meter) length is visible and looks to be intact.
According to NASA, the wreck was recently imaged from the ground by the Perseverance rover, which showed the wreckage dwarfed by Martian slopes.
According to NASA, the Ingenuity helicopter has flown for 49 minutes and traversed 3.9 miles (6.2 kilometres) during its stay on Mars. The destination of Flight 27 is the Sétah ridge in the Jezero crater dry river valley. When the Mars surface was wet, this region represented the remains of a river delta that once poured into a lake in the Jezero crater. The present mission's main objective is to look for indications of ancient Martian life in the old delta. Perseverance's goal will be to gain a bird's-eye view of the geography surrounding the ridge, in part to scout a way to the top of the delta. The aircraft will also explore regions where the rover can't go and look for places where the rover can store geological samples for ultimate return to Earth.
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