After 72 flights and 17 kilometers, we finally said goodbye to the "Ingenuity" helicopter. It was announced last month that the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's mission was coming to an end due to rotor damage during its final flight.

"Perseverance" captured "Ingenuity" at its final airport: On February 4, 2024, NASA's "Perseverance" Mars rover captured this mosaic photo showing the Martian helicopter at its final airport. The helicopter damaged its rotor while landing on its 72nd flight on January 18, 2024. The Ingenuity team nicknamed the location where the helicopter made its final flight "Valinor Hills" after the fictional location in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, including the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Perseverance's exploration of Mars has entered an exciting phase, focusing on geological discoveries that may reveal the ancient history of Mars.

Ingenuity began its long and extraordinarily successful journey at the bottom of Jezero Crater three years ago, and will end its mission in the Neretva Valley, a channel that once channeled water into an ancient lake. Ingenuity is the first aircraft to achieve controlled, powered flight on another planet, allowing science teams to access landscapes inaccessible to any rover.

This week, Perseverance came within about 450 meters of the helicopter, which is likely to be the closest we will ever get to a flying partner for the remainder of the mission. We took advantage of this opportunity to acquire long-range images of "Ingenuity" with our Mastcam-Z instrument.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover acquired this image using the SuperCam Remote Micro Imager located atop the rover's mast. This image was obtained on January 31, 2024 (Solar 1048) at 11:31:25 local mean solar time. Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP

While Ingenuity's mission has come to an end, Perseverance is approaching one of the most exciting parts of its mission yet as it continues to explore the rim unit, a region on the rim of Jezero Crater that is strongly characterized by carbonate minerals as seen from orbit.

Our team took full advantage of this latest terrain, using the super cameras LIBS and VISIR to observe a pitted rock called Pork Chop Geyser (pictured above) and to capture a Mastcam-Z image of a gravel outcrop called Moujon Island (pictured below). As the rover heads west, we are making serious preparations for the work ahead.

In orbital images of the crater rim, we can see huge boulders - so-called "megaclasts" - that are speculated to have come from the impact that created Jezero Crater, or from older rocks ejected from the massive Isidis Basin to our east.

NASA's Perseverance rover acquired this image using its Mastcam-Z camera on the right. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover's mast. This image was obtained on January 28, 2024 (Solar 1045) at 10:49:21 local mean solar time. Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Although it is sad to leave "Ingenuity", the future of "Perseverance" is bright and the science team is very excited. Ahead of us is a mysterious crater rim that may hold a window into Mars' history that no rover has ever seen.

Authors: Purdue University doctoral student Henry Manelski and JPL Scientific Systems Engineer Nathan Williams

Compiled source: ScitechDaily