NASA's Perseverance rover has made history after landing on the Martian surface carrying the Ingenuity Mars helicopter to test the first powered flight on Mars on Feb, 18, 2021. Its parachute even made headlines because of the hidden message in its design.
The Ingenuity Mars helicopter has sent photos of the parachute and backshell that protected the rover on its landing in the Jezero crater. The snap was not taken by chance as the team controlling the helicopter aimed the mission to its landing site to assist the joint NASA and ESA sample return project.
Perseverance's backshell, supersonic parachute, and associated debris field is seen strewn across the Martian surface in this image captured by NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 26th flight on April 19, 2022.
Ingenuity's 26th Flight
Ingenuity Mars helicopter conducted its 26th flight on April 19 on the first anniversary of its first flight, NASA JPL reported. The helicopter flew 26 feet (8 meters) above the ground for 159 seconds and traveled 639 feet (192 meters) in the southeast direction and took its first picture.
Then it headed southwest before going to the northwest to take images off pre-planned locations along the route, taking a total of 10 images in its flash memory. Then it headed west 246 feet (75 meters) and landed, covering a total distance of 1,181 feet (360 meters) on its 26th flight. With the completion of Flight 26, Ingenuity has already logged over 49 minutes aloft and traveled3.9 miles (6.2 kilometers).
Håvard Grip, chief pilot of Ingenuity at JPL said that Ingenuity did a lot of complicated maneuvering to get the shots they needed. Taking photos of the landing spot set Flight 27 nicely to take a picture of an area of interest for the Perseverance science team.
According to NASA Mars Exploration Program, the new era of operations in the dry river delta or Jezero Crater marks the departure from the modest, flat terrain that Ingenuity had been flying over since its first flight last year. Upon reaching the delta, the first order will be to help determine the dry river channels.
Perseverance should climb to reach the top of the delta and identify geologic features too far afield for the rover to scout landing zones and sites to get samples for the Mars Sample Return program.
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Perseverance's Backshell and Parachute
The photos taken during Ingenuity's Flight 26 could provide more detail on the area that will help in the entry, descent, and landing of future missions, Space.com reported.
Mars Sample Return ascent phase lead Ian Clark of NASA JPL said that Perseverance is by far the best-documented Mars landing in history because of its cameras that showed everything from parachute inflation to touchdown.
But the images the rotorcraft captured offered a different vantage point, showing the conical-shaped backshell of Perseverance and the parachute used. The backshell and parachute did their job well as the Perseverance and Ingenuity's good health shows.
JPL officials said that the protective coating of the backshell has remained intact during the atmospheric entry and the lines that connect it to the parachute are visible and appear to be intact. Although only one-third of the parachute is seen in the images, the canopy shows no signs of damage from the supersonic airflow when it was inflated. But it would need several analyses to confirm this.
Check out more news and information on Ingenuity Mars Helicopter in Science Times.
