Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Shares First Ever Colored Photo on Martian Surface

Ingenuity, NASA's small Mars helicopter, has shared the first-ever color picture from the Red Planet taken on Saturday (Apr. 3).

The image depicts "the floor of Mars' Jezero Crater and a portion of two wheels of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover," according to a statement published by NASA on Monday (Apr. 5).

(Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
This low-resolution view of the floor of Mars’ Jezero Crater and a portion of two wheels of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover was captured by the agency’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter on April 3, 2021. It’s the first color photo taken by Ingenuity on the Martian surface.

On Feb. 18, the car-sized Perseverance landed within the 45-kilometer-wide Jezero, with Ingenuity firmly attached to its belly.

The rover launched Ingenuity on Apr. 4 and has since pushed a short distance away, allowing the solar-powered rotorcraft to receive sunlight from Mars.

Perseverance will drive even farther away in the coming days to a location known as Van Zyl Overlook, which offers a clear view of the airfield chosen by the task team for Ingenuity.

When Will Ingenuity Fly?

The restraints on Ingenuity's rotor blades will release soon, to test its blades and motors. If everything goes according to plan, Ingenuity could take off as early as Sunday (Apr. 11), making history as the first-ever powered flight in the skies of another country.

The goal is to prove that this mode of exploration is possible on Mars. Future Red Planet missions could include helicopters as scouts for rovers and as explorers in their own right if Ingenuity performs well during its month-long, five-flight campaign, NASA officials have said per Space.com.

Ingenuity, however, does not carry science instruments. According to NASA officials, the little flyer will capture imagery during its travels.

ALSO READ: NASA's Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Brings Part of Wright Brothers' 1903 Plane to Red Planet

The helicopter's imager is expected to produce multiple higher-resolution images than the first color shot above during each of Ingenuity's test flights. So keep your Mars-facing eyes open for something interesting.

Using its high-resolution MastCam-Z camera system, the six-wheeled rover will attempt to record Ingenuity's flight program from Van Zyl Overlook.

The task team members said Perseverance could also capture audio of Ingenuity's sorties using its two onboard microphones.

Given how easily sound attenuates in the thin Martian atmosphere, there are no assurances on the audio front.

Ingenuity to Stay in Mars for a Month

Since Perseverance has its own business to attend to, Ingenuity's flight program is strictly limited to one month.

On the floor of Jezero, which housed a river delta and a large lake billions of years ago, the $2.7 billion rover will look for signs of ancient Mars existence.

Perseverance will also gather and cache various samples, which will be returned to Earth by a NASA-European Space Agency spacecraft as early as 2031.