Vol 12 View of southern Seitah: This image of the southern region of Jezero Crater was captured by NASA’s Helicopter Ingenuity Mars during its 12th flight to Mars on August 16, 2021, and has been shown to be useful to the science team. of the Perseverance rover while planning his scientific research. Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech. Full image and legend ›
The scientist of perseverance impressed with aerial images of the location considered for exploring the rover.
Ask any space explorer and they will have one or two favorite photographs of their mission. For Ken Farley, NASA’s rover Perseverance project scientist, one of his current favorites is the color image of “South Seitah,” an area the mission’s scientific team had considered potentially worth a visit. to the rover. The agency’s Helicopter Ingenuity Mars took the picture for 12 yearsth and the most recent flight, on August 16th.
Before the last flight of Ingenuity, most of what Perseverance’s scientific team knew about the southern part of the Seitah feature came from orbiting images. Based on these data, they believed the site could be a treasure trove of complex geology, providing information that could play a valuable role as the rover team looks for signs of ancient microbial life and tries to characterize the geology of the area. and understand the history of the area.
They used rotorcraft images to look for signs of layered sedimentary rock that could be deposited in the water, fascinating rock outcrops accessible to the rover, and safe routes the rover could make and return out of the area.
“From a scientific perspective, these images of southern Seitah are the most valuable that the ingenuity has had to date,” said Farley, who is based at Caltech. “And part of their value may be in what they are no showing. The sedimentary layers of the rocks do not appear easily in the image and there may be areas that could be difficult to negotiate with the rover. Our scientific driving and rover teams have work to do to better understand how to respond to new data. “
The device obtained 10 images of the area when it flew to and from southern Seitah at an altitude of 10 meters. The flight was one of the most complicated that the helicopter team has done so far: the longest flight so far (169.5 seconds) with multiple waypoints as it flew from relatively undescribed terrain outside the south of Seita to much more varied terrain inland and then back out.
“What this image can say is that we don’t need to drive west to get the best geological variety from this first scientific campaign,” Farley said. “If we decide to make the trip south of Seitah, we have valuable information about what we will find. And if the decision is to stay at “Artuby Ridge”, the current location of the rover, we will save a lot of time. It’s a win-win. ”
Learn more about wit
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the operations demonstration activity during its expanded mission to NASA headquarters. It has the support of the directorates of NASA’s Science, Aeronautical Research and Space Technology mission. NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided important analysis of flight performance and technical assistance during the development of Ingenuity. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm and SolAero also provided assistance with the main design and components of the vehicle. Lockheed Martin Space designed and manufactured Mars ’helicopter delivery system.
Learn more about perseverance
A key goal for Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s past geology and climate, pave the way for human exploration of the red planet, and be the first mission to collect and hide Martian rock and regolith.
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s approach to exploring the Moon to Mars, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare you for human exploration of the red planet.
JPL, which is managed by NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and managed the operations of the Perseverance rover.
For more information on perseverance:
mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ and nasa.gov/perseverance
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