NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Captures Its Mothership, the Perseverance Rover, in New Mars Footage

As NASA's Ingenuity helicopter flies over Mars for the 11th time for the week, the small drone caught a glimpse of its 'mothership,' the Perseverance rover, that landed last February 18 on Mars' Jezero Crater.

Understanding the Ingenuity Helicopter

The Ingenuity Helicopter, according to NASA, is a tech demonstration that aims to test the plausibility and challenges of powered, controlled flights on Mars for the first time in history. Ingenuity hitched a ride on the Perseverance Rover. Once the rover was able to reach a suitable 'airfield' location, it then released the Ingenuity helicopter to the surface to perform several test flights over the 30-Martian-day science experiment window.

After three successful flights, the Ingenuity was able to complete its tech demonstration. It was launched on July 30th from NASA's Cape Canaveral Air Force and landed on the Red Planet's Jezero Crater on February 18.

Mars 2020 Mission

The Perseverance Rover, part of NASA's Mars 2020 Mission, is in charge of looking for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars in the hopes of advancing NASA's mission to learn more about the Red Planet's ancient habitability, which has long eluded scientists.

To achieve this goal, the Perseverance has to drill and collect core samples of rocks and soil from Mars, store the samples in sealed tubes to be picked up by Martian missions in the future. Future missions would ferry the samples back to Earth for further studies and analysis.

Additionally, the Mars 2020 Mission aims to test out technologies behavior and plausibility in the distant planet such as the Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity.

The Perseverance rover is conducting science experiments on the Red Planet's habitability, seeking signs of ancient microbial life, catching and collecting samples, and preparing for future manned Martian missions.

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover was launched on July 30 and is expected to last for at least one Martian year, roughly 687 Earth days, to fully complete its scientific missions.

Ingenuity Helicopter Captures Footage of Perseverance 'Mothership' From Above

An engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Robert Hogg, said in a statement that the images provided by the Ingenuity were awesome but were made better by playing a little game of 'Where's Perseverance?'

In the video, he adds that once you zoom in on the images, you will be able to make out a few details of the rover, including its wheels, MMRTG, remote sensing mast, and more.

According to the space agency's flight plan, Ingenuity took off at roughly 12:50 am on August 5 and flew north-by-northwest for about 130.9 seconds with an average speed of 11 mph. In the statement, NASA officials said that Flight 11 was designed, initially, to keep the helicopter ahead of the Perseverance rover, to allow continued support for the rover's science goals by taking pictures of interesting geologic features from the Martian air, reports Space.

At least one more time during its Martian mission, the Ingenuity is expected to fly above the 'South Seitah' region of the Jezero Crater.

Check out more news and information on NASA Missions in Science Times.