This April 16, 2023, enhanced color image of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is the clearest view of the rotorcraft since its first flight. Ingenuity completed its 50th flight on April 13, 2023; the helicopter’s first flight on Mars was two years ago on April 19, 2021.

This picture was taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard the Perseverance rover. At the time the image was taken, the rover was about 75 feet (23 meters) away.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Editor: Monika Luabeya

This enhanced color image of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard Perseverance on April 16, 2023, the 766th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission. At the time the image was taken, the rover was about 75 feet (23 meters) away. The helicopter’s first flight on Mars was on April 19, 2021.

This is the best look the Ingenuity team has had of the rotorcraft since its first flight.

Small diodes (visible more clearly in this image of helicopter) appear as small protrusions on the top of the helicopter’s solar panel. The panel and the two 4-foot (1.2-meter) counter-rotating rotors have accumulated a fine coating of dust. The metalized insulating film covering the exterior of the helicopter’s fuselage appears to be intact. Ingenuity’s color, 13-megapixel, horizon-facing terrain camera can be seen at the center-bottom of the fuselage.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets.

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which manages the project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity’s development. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. Lockheed Martin Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System.

Source: NASA.