NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter recently took to the skies on Expedition 45, covering nearly a third of a mile (0.5 kilometers) — and capturing beautiful shots of sunsets over the Red Planet in the process.
intelligence It still makes short trips around Mars’ Jezero Crater, and continues to collect data that far exceeds the average operational life expectancy. Ingenuity arrives on the Red Planet with NASA Rover Perseverancewhich landed on Bumi Jezero in February 2021.
Ingenuity first flew two months later, in April 2021, and was initially assigned to conduct several test flights to demonstrate its innovative technology. However, having exceeded NASA’s expectations, the Ingenuity mission has evolved into the Perseverance Explorer, which searches for ancient signs. Martian life and collect samples for future return to Earth. The Creativity has now flown 46 times, for a total distance of 6.3 miles (10.1 km).
Related: Mars probe highlights a creative helicopter resting on a sand dune (pictured)
Flights 45 and 46 are only three days apart, on February 22 and 25, with Flight 47 expected any day now. Depending on the relative position of the earth and MarsTransmission between two planets can take between 5 and 20 minutes to reach its destination. For this reason, the Creation is designed to take off, fly and land on its own. Mission controller programmed each flight and then had to wait for data confirmation that Ingenuity had landed safely. The onboard camera takes images which are used to help determine the next steps for Creativity and Perseverance.
Ingenuity’s high-resolution color camera is tilted 22 degrees below the horizon. So the images sent to NASA from the 4-pound (1.8 kg) helicopter focus mainly on Earth, looking for interesting geological features and potential obstacles ahead.
But occasionally, a slice of the Martian sky will appear in one of Ingenuity’s images, serving as a reminder that helicopters are giving us a new perspective on the Red Planet. The helicopter took such a photo on its 45th flight, but with a rare target in the frame – sun.
The image shows the sun hanging slightly above the distant hilltop horizon, and was taken at sunset on the 714th day of Mars Ingenuity, or the first day. The light shining through the image helps illuminate the strange and rolling landscape of sand and rock within Jezero Crater, and it feels like taking a desert photo here. Land. Therein lies its beauty.
This perceived commonality became the basis of our space exploration from the very beginning. Sunset images from other planets can be a reminder of what we have because they highlight the fine line between our life-sustaining Earth and other lifeless worlds orbiting our sun and beyond. This epitomizes the nature of Perseverance’s search for ancient Martian life, and raises questions about what other worlds might have been like—and whether humanity would even see today.
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