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They used the images of the rotorcraft to look for signs of layered sedimentary rock that may have been deposited in the water, intriguing rock outcrops accessible to the rover, and safe routes the rover could take to enter and exit the area.
“From a scientific standpoint, these images of South Seítah are the most valuable that Ingenuity has taken to date,” said Caltech-based Farley. “And part of their value may be in who they are not showing. Sedimentary layers in the rocks are not readily apparent in the image, and there may be areas that could be difficult to negotiate with the rover. There is work to be done by our science and rover driving teams to better understand how to react to the new data. “
Ingenuity obtained 10 images of the area as it arrived and returned from South Seítah at an elevation of 33 feet (10 meters). The flight was one of the most complicated the helicopter team has performed so far – the longest flight to date (169.5 seconds) with multiple waypoints as it flew from a relatively little descriptive terrain outside South Seítah to much more varied terrain inside, and then set off again.
“What this image can say is that we don’t need to drive further west to get the best geological variety from this first science campaign,” Farley said. “If we decide to make the trip to South Seítah, we have valuable information on what we are going to encounter. And if the decision is to stay around ‘Artuby Ridge’, the current location of the rover, we will have saved precious time. It’s a win-win.
Learn more about ingenuity
The Ingenuity Mars helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the operations demonstration activity during its extended mission for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by the Science, Aeronautical Research and Space Technology mission directions of NASA. NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided meaningful flight performance analysis and technical assistance during the development of Ingenuity. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm and SolAero also provided design assistance and major components of the vehicle. Lockheed Martin Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System.
Learn more about perseverance
A key focus of Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology, including looking 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.
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples on the surface and return them to Earth for further analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s approach to exploring the Moon to Mars, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., Built and manages the operations of the Perseverance rover.
To find out more about Perseverance:
mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
and
nasa.gov/perseverance
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