The navigation camera on NASA's Ingenuity helicopter reveals the spacecraft picking up a small bit of foreign object debris (FOD) on one of its landing legs. That debris could be seen floating away moments later, according to a report from Space.com.
Alien debris on the helicopter's landing leg is certainly not the first to be identified on Mars. The Mars Perseverance rover crew recently found an unforeseen piece of debris, which seems assumed to be a remnant of the thermal blanket from a rocket-powered jet pack that dropped the rover onto the planet's surface. Ingenuity is no acquaintance with debris, having discovered the fragments of Perseverance's parachute and cone-backshell after touching down.
From the recent flight, the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, which is investigating Jezero Crater through its rover companion Perseverance, got something hooked up to its foot. Scientists captured the debris on video throughout Ingenuity's 33rd mission beyond Mars in late September and observed that imaging revealed the debris fell off the small helicopter. (Whereas it appears to be a cobweb or a Twinkie wrapper, that can be certain it isn't aliens.)
The Foreign Thing Filming
Filming from the mission's NavCam reveals the debris gradually descending to the surface partway through the trip when Ingenuity made a safe landing safely on Mars' dunes.
"All data from the mission and a post-flight check and transference are nominal and indicate no evidence of vehicle damage," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a release. "The Ingenuity and Perseverance Mars 2020 teams are trying to determine the origins of the debris."
The Mars Ingenuity helicopter, which weighs less than four pounds, has traveled 7,392 meters since arriving on Mars (24,253 feet). This rotorcraft could fly for up to 90 seconds at 10 to 15 feet above the ground. It could also fly autonomously with only a few orders from Earth.
Ingenuity's latest prior flight was projected to go at an elevation of 365 feet (111.238 meters) and a pace of 10.6 mph (4.75 m/s). This flight was only expected to last 55.61 seconds. According to NASA, the mission's goal was to relocate the helicopter.
NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
Future Missions for NASA's Ingenuity
Currently, NASA has not said what it considers to be the most recent debris detection. The film was acquired by the rotorcraft's navigation camera on Sept 24, 2022, throughout the 33rd trip on the Red Planet, based on a report from Hot Hardware.
The space agency wants to put Ingenuity the strain as much as necessary, especially because the agency expects to use Mars helicopters for a future return mission for samples.
Perseverance is on a long-term mission to collect one of the most probable materials for closer investigation on Earth, as astronomers seek greater clues over whether life on Mars was viable in the past.
Meanwhile, Ingenuity serves as a scout for Perseverance as the rover continues investigating an old river delta. Water on Mars is one of the primary topics of study as scientists debate the planet's liveability.
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