NASA’s Mars Rover has captured video footage of ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s 13th fight on Sept 4. It has provided most detailed look yet of the rotorcraft in action. Ingenuity is a mars helicopter scheduled to take place no earlier than Saturday. It will involve flying into varied terrain and taking images of an outcrop from multiple angles of the rover team. The video and images were acquired from an altitude of 26 feet and it provides valuable insight for perseverance scientists and rover drivers.
The images were captured by rover’s two camera MAstcam-Z. One camera provides video flight and other provides closeup of takeoff and landing. The value of Mastcam-Z really shines through with these video clips,” said Justin Maki, deputy principal investigator for the Mastcam-Z instrument at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
During takeoff Ingenuity kicks up a small plume of dust that the right camera captures moving to the right. It then climbs up to maximum altitude of 26 feet and the helicopter performs a small pirouette to line up its camera for scouting. The Ingenuity pitches over allowing rotors to begin moving horizontally Later the rotorcraft returns and lands in the vicinity where it took off.
The wide angle view shows how ingenuity maintains altitude during flight. After an initial ascent to 26 feet altitude, the helicopter’s laser notes a change in elevation of the terrain below as it heads northwest towards ridgeline. After Flight 13, Ingenuity went quiet in October along with Mars spacecraft during Mars solar conjunction where Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the sun.
More About Ingenuity
Ingenuity was Mars Helicopter built by JPL, which manages operations demonstration during its extended mission for NASA headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science, Aeronautics Research, and Space Technology mission directorates. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity’s development. Lockheed Martin Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System.
More About Perseverance
The main objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize planet’s geology and past climate to pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. It will be the first mission to collect Martian rock and regolith. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach which includes Artemis mission to the Moon and will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
