Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Snaps Photo of Perseverance Rover During Latest Flight
NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity has captured a stunning image of its partner on the Red Planet, the Perseverance rover. The photo was taken on August 3, during Ingenuity’s 54th flight on Mars.
In the image, Perseverance can be seen at the top of the frame, as Ingenuity hovered about 16 feet above the Martian surface. The photo provides a unique perspective of the rover against the backdrop of the red Martian dirt.
This flight was different from previous ones, as it was not intended to aid Perseverance’s scientific activities. The flight lasted only 24 seconds, with a maximum altitude of 16 feet and no lateral movement. The purpose of this short hop was to understand what went wrong during Ingenuity’s previous flight, which was unexpectedly cut short.
During that flight on July 22, Ingenuity was supposed to perform several maneuvers and last 136 seconds. However, it stayed aloft for only 74 seconds before triggering its “flight-contingency program” and landing immediately.
The mission team had included a program called ‘LAND_NOW’ since the first flight, which initiates an immediate landing if certain off-nominal scenarios occur. In this case, the program worked as planned and brought Ingenuity safely down to the Martian surface.
The team believes that the issue may have been caused by a synchronization problem between Ingenuity’s navigation camera and its inertial measurement unit, which helps determine the helicopter’s position, speed, and orientation. A similar problem occurred during the sixth flight in May 2021, which was addressed with a software patch. However, the patch was unable to handle the anomaly during Flight 53.
Despite this setback, the Ingenuity team remains optimistic and sees it as a valuable learning experience for future missions. They are confident that the helicopter is ready to continue its exploration of Mars.
Ingenuity and Perseverance landed together in Jezero Crater in February 2021. Ingenuity successfully completed its primary mission as a technology demonstrator and has now entered an extended mission phase, where it is assisting the Perseverance team with reconnaissance work.
This is not the first time that Ingenuity has captured images of Perseverance during its scouting missions. In April, the rover also made it into the frame during Ingenuity’s 51st flight.
With each successful flight, Ingenuity is proving to be an invaluable asset in NASA’s exploration of Mars, providing valuable data and insights about the Red Planet.