NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter spots debris on its leg on latest flight

October 3, 2022

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One thing unusual is afoot on a Martian helicopter.

The Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, which is exploring Jezero Crater together with its rover associate Perseverance, had one thing caught to its foot on a latest flight. Engineers caught the debris (opens in new tab) on digicam throughout Ingenuity’s 33rd flight above the Pink Planet in late September, and famous that imagery confirmed the particles flew off the little helicopter. (Whereas it appears like a little bit of a cobweb or a Twinkie wrapper, we are able to at the least relaxation assured it is not aliens.)

Footage from the mission’s NavCam reveals the particles falling naturally again to the floor partway by means of the flight, earlier than Ingenuity made a secure landing again on the sands of Mars.

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Ingenuity’s thirty third flight on Mars in September 2022 featured a bit of particles flying off the drone. (Picture credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

“All telemetry from the flight and a post-flight search and switch are nominal and present no indication of auto harm. The Ingenuity and Perseverance Mars 2020 groups are working to discern the supply of the particles,” officers from NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote in a statement (opens in new tab).

Ingenuity is flying properly into an prolonged mission. The drone is the primary ever to fly above Mars and was initially rated for 5 flights. Now it is about to interrupt that mark by sevenfold.

animation of mars flight showing a piece of debris on the ingenuity helicopter

The Ingenuity drone on Mars had a bit of particles on its leg throughout its thirty third flight in September 2022. (Picture credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA is in search of to check Ingenuity as a lot as attainable, particularly because the company plans to place Mars helicopters into play for a future sample return mission.

Perseverance is on a long-term quest to select up probably the most promising samples for nearer examination on Earth, as scientists search extra solutions as as to if life on Mars was attainable within the historical previous.

Within the meantime, Ingenuity is appearing as a check scout for Perseverance because the rover continues to discover an ancient river delta. Water on Mars is without doubt one of the key areas of examine as scientists proceed to debate the planet’s habitability.

Observe Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).

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