NASA's impressive Mars helicopter Ingenuity stumbled upon an 'otherworldly' site as it made its way through space over the Red Planet.
Ingenuity has come a long way since it left Earth behind in July 2020.
As part of the Mars 2020 mission, the helicopter has spent the last four years racking up 72 flights over Mars, with NASA noting this has far exceeded its originally planned technology demonstration of up to five flights.
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The helicopter was designed to preview areas of Mars that could be of possible interest for NASA's Perseverance rover, and it was during one of its flights in 2022 that it stumbled upon an eerie sight.
Images sent back by the helicopter show a mysterious wreckage on the Red Planet's surface, with debris lying abandoned and scattered across the ground.
Given the location of the wreckage, it would be easy to think Ingenuity had stumbled upon undeniable proof of aliens. But the only aliens involved in this mystery were the ones who sent Ingenuity up to Mars in the first place.
Yes, I'm talking about us.
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The images show the debris of the landing equipment used when Ingenuity arrived on Mars with the Perseverance rover back in 2021.
Ian Clark, an engineer who worked on Perseverance’s parachute system, spoke to The New York Times about the photographs, saying: “There's definitely a sci-fi element to it. It exudes otherworldly, doesn't it?”
He continued: “They say a picture's worth 1,000 words, but it's also worth an infinite amount of engineering understanding.”
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Though the photos do admittedly show what a mess we've made up on Mars, they could also be particularly helpful for technicians working on future missions.
Clark explained: “Perseverance had the best-documented Mars landing in history, with cameras showing everything from parachute inflation to touchdown.
“But Ingenuity's images offer a different vantage point.
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“If they either reinforce that our systems worked as we think they worked or provide even one dataset of engineering information we can use for Mars Sample Return planning, it will be amazing.
“And if not, the pictures are still phenomenal and inspiring.”
Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity's team lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, added: “NASA extended Ingenuity flight operations to perform pioneering flights such as this.
“Every time we're airborne, Ingenuity covers new ground and offers a perspective no previous planetary mission could achieve.”
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Ingenuity's flights over Mars are hoped to help pave the way for future aerial explorers at Mars and potentially even other space destinations.
Topics: Space, NASA, Mars, Technology, Science
Emily Brown