NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Flies at a Lower Altitude Than Ever Before – Captures a Mars Rock Feature in 3D - SciTechDaily

This 3D view of a rock mound called “Faillefeu” was created from data collected by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 13th flight at Mars on September 4, 2021.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter provided a 3D view of a rock-covered mound during its 13th flight on September 4.

The plan for this reconnaissance mission into the “South Seítah” region of Mars’ Jezero Crater was to capture images of this geologic target – nicknamed “Faillefeu” (after a medieval abbey in the French Alps) by the agency’s Perseverance rover team – and to obtain the color pictures from a lower altitude than ever before: 26 feet (8 meters).

This image of an area the Mars Perseverance rover team calls “Faillefeu” was captured by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 13th flight at Mars on September 4, 2021.

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the operations demonstration activity during its extended mission for NASA Headquarters.

It is supported by NASA’s Science, Aeronautics Research, and Space Technology mission directorates.

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.

The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

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