It blew our minds that Perseverance actually stumbled across and tookpictures of its parachutea couple of week ago , but thanks to the piddling helicopter that could , we now have an aerial view of both the parachute and back shield that protected both robots and delivered them to the surface of Mars over a twelvemonth ago . To quote Perseverance team memberErin Gibbons , " Space debris clash - landed on another world snapped by an aerial lagger . What a timeline we survive in . "
Perseverance catch a glimpse of the remains of its " clandestine code " chute from around 0.8 km ( 0.5 Roman mile ) aside while retracing its steps across the Jezero volcanic crater to reach the ancient river delta it is there to study . ingeniousness – NASA ’s record - breaking first powered vehicle to fly on another humanity – however , can get a better look from up high , which is much easier to traverse than Mars ’s rocky surface .
It took these exposure from an altitude of 8 time ( 26 feet ) during its 26th flight . you may see an unbelievable vista of the theater of debrishere .
Ingenuity is create multiple flights to come with Perseverance on its journeying to the delta . Importantly , though , it must stay forward of the roamer to void flying over or past it to minimize the worst - caseful scenario of some variety of touch or ( whispers)crash .
The eggbeater was designed as a technology demonstration to fly over flat flat coat . Successful beyond NASA ’s raving mad dream , it has try out with flying over “ non - flat ” terrain like hills , cliffs , heavy boulders , and large dunes , but that can affect estimation of its position and direction , which can blow .
To see the safest flight paths to get at the delta finish in the lead of Percy , inventiveness ’s team wasaware of the wreckageand matter up the peril of vaporize near or even over it as it could feign the helicopter ’s altimeter ( a optical maser that measures the height off the earth it is ) . However , grant to NASA ’s squirt propulsion Laboratory , railroad engineer lick on the Mars sample distribution take programrequested aerial shotsas details of the wreckage can provide information on how the landing place geartrain perform during the rover ’s entry , descent , and land .
The parachute and cone cell - shaped backshell protect the rover and its companion during its nerve - wrackingfiery descent toward the Martian surfaceon February 18 , 2021 . Without it , we would n’t have either the scientific knowledge or the incredible images Perseverance and Ingenuity send back to Earth that inspire people and make them invested in explore our neighboring major planet .
