This story is a part of Welcome to Mars, our sequence exploring the pink planet.
Landing on Mars is tough. The Perseverance rover got here by way of the expertise in model final yr, however the gear that helped ship it safely to the floor of the pink planet confronted a rougher destiny. New aerial views from NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter present the rover’s parachute and protecting backshell as particles on Mars.
Ingenuity snapped the picture sequence with its coloration digital camera throughout Flight 26 on April 19. It provides a special perspective on the detritus than what we noticed when the rover captured a current photograph of the location. The massive parachute is coated in Martian mud and the backshell is smashed.
NASA Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter discover the wilds of Mars
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Understanding what occurred to the touchdown gear might assist future Mars missions, just like the deliberate pattern return, which is able to choose up rock samples collected by the rover and convey them to Earth for research.
“Perseverance had the perfect documented Mars touchdown in historical past, with cameras displaying all the things from parachute inflation to landing,” stated JPL’s Ian Clark, Mars pattern return ascent part lead, in a NASA JPL assertion on Wednesday. “But Ingenuity’s pictures supply a special vantage level. If they both reinforce that our methods labored as we expect they labored or present even one dataset of engineering data we are able to use for Mars pattern return planning, will probably be superb. And if not, the images are nonetheless phenomenal and provoking.”
Ingenuity’s overhead view provides a dramatic have a look at the destiny of the backshell, which squashed on affect.
The Perseverance’s rover’s backshell did its job, however had a tough touchdown as seen on this Ingenuity helicopter picture from April 19, 2022.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Kevin Gill, recognized for processing house pictures, shared earlier than and after views of the backshell so you’ll be able to see simply how crushing the touchdown on Mars was.
JPL stated the parachute cover seems to indicate no indicators of injury from its touchdown expertise, however that it’s going to take extra evaluation to completely perceive what the helicopter pictures are displaying.
The extraordinary images will turn out to be a part of the helicopter’s already appreciable legacy. It logged the primary powered, managed flight on one other planet, and has remarkably saved going regardless of being a high-risk know-how demonstration. It’s now performing as a scout and companion for Perseverance because the rover delves into the delta area of Jezero Crater, a possible hotspot for indicators of historic microbial life.