Chapter 3 of 5

The gear left behind

Flight 26 photographed the rover’s discarded entry equipment

Told in Ingenuity’s imagined voice · the events are real · source

After its 72nd flight on Jan.
IngenuityMy short test grew into a job as an aerial scout.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
01After the original flight demonstration, my images offered scientists and rover planners another viewpoint. One flight would look back at equipment that had helped bring us to Mars.
A parachute and backshell had finished their journey on the ground.
02They had protected Perseverance during entry and descent, then separated before the rover’s landing. The rover went on exploring; those components were left behind.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this mosaic showing the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at its final airfield on Feb.
IngenuityOn April 19, 2022, I photographed them from the air.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
03During Flight 26, I returned ten color images. Engineers had asked for this perspective because it could reveal details harder to inspect from the rover’s viewpoint.
Used equipment could become evidence for a future landing.
04Engineers examined the backshell, suspension lines and parachute. NASA’s report described promising observations while noting that more analysis was needed. A photograph begins an investigation; it does not answer everything.

The big idea

Discarded equipment is not just debris: observing it can help engineers learn how a mission’s hardware performed.

Think about it

What could an aerial photograph reveal that a distant surface picture might miss?

Fact file

Flight 26
19 April 2022
The one-year anniversary of first flight.
Source ↗
Aerial color images
10
Images requested for assessment of entry, descent and landing hardware; not proof of every component’s performance.
Source ↗

In this chapter: Color camera, Perseverance backshell, supersonic parachute and suspension lines

Sources: Main record

Machine illustration: AI-made. Photos: NASA Image and Video Library, credited on each picture.

Chapter 3 of 5

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