NASA Perseverance captured new images from a NASA Ingenuity drone

We’ve written in recent weeks about how the Mars Sample Return mission will bring back collected samples NASA Perseverance On Earth to 2040 (if there are no innovative ideas from trading partners). Meanwhile, the American spacecraft continues its exploration Marty In particular, the river delta that filled the Jezero Crater with water. In the last few days, thanks Supercamit has become possible to take new pictures of NASA’s drone ingenuityAnd probably the last for a long time.

as we know Mars drone It will no longer be able to fly because its blades were damaged by collision with the Martian soil and perhaps also due to structural problems. Currently, JPL has not provided an official explanation for how the events of Flight 72 unfolded. Reconstructing what happened will be key as larger, more advanced models arrive in the coming years.

NASA’s creativity is captured in new images

currently NASA Perseverance Located in the southern region of Neretva Valley Detour to the central sandy area where it is located instead NASA ingenuity. The distance between the two instruments is about 500 metres, and will increase as the spacecraft moves east (it should return near this area around 2028).

Click on the image to enlarge

I Drone Instead, it will continue to serve as a kind of laboratory, continuing to collect images and data about the Martian environment. The data will be downloaded as soon as possible rover Will be back soon as well NASA ingenuity It cannot communicate directly with orbiters or the deep space network.

At the top left are call marks on the dune, at the top left is the drone, at the bottom the shovel

In the photos taken b SuperCam remote shooting (On May 4th) We can observe again Drone, which is located toward the top of the dune, but from a different vantage point than seen in the Mastcam-Z images or in other SuperCam images from February. At the base of the dune you can see the shovel that broke off it NASA ingenuity As well as signs of contact between the drone and the sand.

Let us remember that, according to Trip log Official, NASA ingenuity It completed 72 flights, covering more than 17 kilometers and flying for more than 128 minutes. The maximum speed reached was 10 m/s while the maximum height was 24 metres. Engineers initially aimed to carry out five flights in one month at a maximum altitude of 12 metres. for this reason Drone It far exceeded expectations, and although the operational phase of the mission was completed, it provided the opportunity to collect a lot of engineering data and helped rover To move on a surface Marty.