By Chris Skeldon 
NASA’s flagship Mars Helicopter continues to give us views of the Red Planet that we’ve never seen before.
During her last flight, which took place on April 19, she weighed 4 pounds (1.8 kg). intelligence The canopy and rear hull were photographed with the help of NASA perseverance The spacecraft lands inside Jezero Crater on the Red Planet on February 18, 2021.
This was not an opportunity to watch. The Ingenuity team has been invited to attempt photographing the Perseverance landing gear to assist the European Space Agency (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) in their joint Mars sample return project, which aims to transport material collected by Perseverance back to Earth. Probably as early as 2033.
Related: One year later, the innovative helicopter is still working hard on Mars
“Perseverance is the best documentation.” Mars Landing in history, with cameras showing everything from parachute inflating to landing,” Ian Clark of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, former Perseverance Systems engineer and now stage leader for climbing Mars samples, He said in a statement on Wednesday (27 April).
“But Ibdaa’s photos offer a different view,” Clark added. “If they improve our systems to work as we think or even provide a single dataset of engineering information that we can use to plan a sample return from Mars, that would be amazing. If not, the images are still amazing. And inspiring.”
The conical posterior crust helped it persevere—with creativity in its belly—to survive the long journey from the Red Planet to Earth, as well as the short but whizzing voyage across Mars atmosphere. The mission’s supersonic parachute, measuring 21.5 meters in length, was the largest ever on Mars. This significantly slowed the descent of the rover, which was eventually lowered to the Jezero floor on cables by a rocket-powered sky winch.
The back shell and canopy did their job well, showing good health of perseverance and ingenuity. Preliminary analyzes of the new creation images indicate that the spacecraft has held up well despite the tremendous pressure it has been exposed to. (The back door is full of bumps, but that’s no surprise, as it crashed into the surface of Mars at 78 mph, or 126 km/h, on landing.)
For example, JPL officials wrote in the same statement: “The protective tailgate appears to have remained intact during re-entry into the Martian atmosphere. Several of the eighty high-strength suspension lines connecting the tailgate to the canopy can be seen and appear to be intact as well.”
While a third of the slope is visible in the creative images, JPL officials added in the statement, “The canopy shows no signs of damage from supersonic airflow during inflation.” “Several weeks of analysis will be required to make a more definitive judgment.”
During the 159-second flight on April 19, Ingenuity took 10 images of the back shell and canopy from various observation points. JPL officials said the helicopter covered a total of 1,181 feet (360 meters) in one sortie, and flew 26 feet (8 meters).
“To get the shots we needed, Ingenuity did a lot of maneuvers, but we were confident because there were tough maneuvers on flights 10, 12 and 13,” said Havard Gripp, Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s chief pilot innovation, in the same statement.
It was and happened on Ingenuity’s 26th flight to the Red Planet Christmas From the first trip to Mars in history.
Creativity is a technical demonstration, originally attributed to a five-flight mission designed to show that atmospheric exploration is possible on Mars. The helicopter is now on an extended mission, pushing the boundaries of red planet flight and serving as a scout to search for life and persevere in collecting samples.
persevere recently I reached the remains of the Delta River that existed in the land of Jezero billions of years ago. The spacecraft team is excited to study and sample the area, which may contain evidence of life on the ancient red planet. And creativity, yet to be realized, will be a big part of that effort.
“On reaching the delta, Ingenuity’s first orders may be to help determine which of the two dry river channels you must climb persistently to reach the top of the delta,” JPL officials wrote in the statement.
“In addition to helping with route planning, the data provided by the helicopter will help the Perseverance team assess potential scientific targets,” they added. “Creativity can be used to image geological features as far away as the rover’s arrival, or to explore landing areas and locations on the surface where sample deposits can be deposited for the Mars Sample Return Program.”
Mike Wall is the author of “out of the countryBook (Great Grand Publishing House, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrials. Follow him on Twitter Embedded Tweet. Follow us on Twitter Embedded Tweet or in Facebook.