NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter acquired an image of its shadow during its 17th Red Planet flight. The image is from NASA/JPL-Caltech.
We'll have to wait a little longer to get a full accounting of the flight, as NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity soared through the Red Planet skies for the 17th time last weekend.
The chopper appeared to hit all of its marks during the 614-foot-long traverse on December 5. The communication link between Ingenuity and NASA's Mars rover Perseverance was disrupted during the helicopter's descent. All of Ingenuity's data and photos are sent to Earth through a Mars orbiter.
Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity team lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern, said that the activity was a success and that the loss of link was due to a challenging radio configuration between Perseverance and Ingenuity.
"We need to transfer the missing data from Flight 17 from helicopter to rover and then to Earth so we can confirm vehicle health," Tzanetos said.
It's getting harder to fly the helicopter on Mars.
Tzanetos explained that two factors led to the communication dropout. As Ingenuity descended toward its landing spot, it became blocked from Perseverance's view by a 13 foot tall hill.
The orientation of the rover was one of the issues. Ingenuity's radio communications had to cross a lot of the rover's body.
Tzanetos wrote that they believed the rover would be parked in a specific location and oriented in a certain direction. Perseverance's plans change daily to maximize science return. By the time Flight 17 was ready to be executed, Perseverance had moved to a new location and parked along a challenging heading for radio communications.
The Ingenuity team got some data from the helicopter on Dec. 5 and received another on Dec. 8. Tzanetos wrote that everything indicates that Ingenuity is stable.
Ingenuity and Perseverance landed on the floor of Mars. The car-sized rover is looking for signs of ancient Mars life and collecting samples for future return to Earth.
Ingenuity was supposed to show that powered flight is possible on Mars. The chopper has been involved in technology-demonstrating missions for a long time and now is scouting Jezero terrain for Perseverance.
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