NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Explores Ridgeline for the Perseverance Science Team

The rotorcraft provided the rover scientists with an aerial perspective of an interesting rock outcrop.

" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{" attribute="">NasaThe ingenuity of Helicopter Mars recently investigated an intriguing ridgeline near the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater. The images, which were captured on April 23, 2022, during the small helicopter’s 27th flight, were taken at the request of Perseverance " data-gt-translate-attributes="[{" attribute="">March rover science team. They wanted to get a closer look at the sloping outcrop.

“Ingenuity not only provides images from an aerial perspective, but allows our team to be in two places on Mars at once,” said Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley of Caltech. “Sending the rover to survey and prospect in one location while launching the helicopter to survey hundreds of additional meters is a huge time saver. It can also help us explore areas the rover will never visit, like in this case.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter spotted this ridgeline near the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater because it was of interest to scientists from the Perseverance rover. Enlarged to the right is a close-up of one of the ridgeline rock outcrops. The image was taken on April 23, during the rotorcraft’s 27th flight. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The ridge line, which the science team calls “Fortun Ridge” after a parish in Norway, is a geological feature of interest because data collected from orbit and remotely by Perseverance indicate that it is of the boundary between the two main rock units on the crater floor.

Previous images suggest that tilted rock layers in this area of ​​Mars are rare (unlike on Earth, where plate tectonics and earthquakes cause tilting). The science team will also have the opportunity to compare Flight 27 images of this feature with data collected by Ingenuity and Perseverance of a tilted ridge line dubbed “Artuby” (see image below) in the “South Séítah” from the crater. Comparing Ingenuity’s snapshots of the two tilted ridgelines may help team scientists better understand the history of the crater floor and, possibly, the forces that were at play in this part of Jezero crater long ago. billions of years.

NASA’s Perseverance rover took these magnified images of a layered outcrop (just below the center of the image) dubbed “Artuby” on June 17, 2021 (the 116th sol, or Martian day, of its mission), of just over a third of a mile (615 meters). This mosaic is made up of three images taken by the Remote Microscopic Imager (RMI), which is part of the rover’s SuperCam instrument. Each circular image has a field of view of 37.73 feet (11.50 meters) at this distance. The images were combined using an algorithm that weights the centers of the image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS

This recent scientific foray by Ingenuity follows the reconnaissance of the helicopter carried out for see backshell and parachute who helped the Perseverance rover land safely on Mars with Ingenuity strapped to its belly. These images have the potential to help ensure safer landings for future spacecraft such as the Mars Sample Return Landerwhich is part of a multi-mission campaign that would bring Perseverance’s Martian rock, atmosphere, and sediment samples back to Earth for detailed analysis.

Learn more about ingenuity

The Ingenuity Mars helicopter was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which also manages the project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California and NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia provided extensive flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity’s development. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. Lockheed Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System.

At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program manager for the Ingenuity Mars helicopter.

Learn more about perseverance

A key focus of Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology, including searching for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s past geology and climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with the ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for further analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPLwhich is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.