﻿In this episode, Ingenuity flies over the delta face and spots a Mars rover. Meanwhile,
Perseverance climbs up the delta face and explores an ancient Martian river.
This video is part of a series,
documenting the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter every 3 months.
While Perseverance has been busy depositing samples for future collection,
Ingenuity has been flying again. This time, up and over the delta.
Technically, this flight sequence should have been in the last episode,
but we didn’t realise just how interesting it is. The helicopter takes off and flies up over the
delta, before returning to rest in roughly the same position, but perched on a dune.
Perseverance spotted the helicopter resting here in the last episode.
The flight provides some great colour images of the delta face.
Interestingly, because the colour camera is pointing in the same general direction,
we can put the images together to create a rough colour sequence of flying over the delta.
Ingenuity takes off again on Sol 689. You can
see the holes in the dune left by its feet. Again, some great colour images are captured.
This time Ingenuity comes to rest in the channel that Perseverance is planning to travel through.
Perseverance is finishing up sample caching activities,
and spots a bright substance uncovered by the track of its wheel.
In this image, we can also see our pet rock, still safely carried in the rovers front left wheel.
After collecting some up-close images, it’s time for the rover to make its way up the delta.
Ingenuity also makes its way up the delta, performing 4 more flights over a period of 9
Sols. The two explorers are making good progress up the delta, through the Hawksbill Gap.
After flight 46, Perseverance can once again see the helicopter. Ingenuity is
approximately 490 feet, or 150 metres away.
On Sol 718, the rover looks towards a formation known as Pinestand. It’s very large,
standing at 20 metres, or 66 feet, in some areas. Composed of stacked layers of sediment, it appears
that it may have been formed by flowing water. However, there’s a problem.
By Earth standards, Pinestand is exceptionally tall to have been created by a flowing river,
as it would imply a very large and very fast flowing river, almost similar in scale to the
Mississippi river in some areas. Then, on Sol 721, the rover comes
across what is potentially the greatest discovery ever made on Mars. This site
has been nicknamed ‘Skrinkle Haven’ and had previously been studied from orbital images.
These curved and banded rocks are further proof for a very deep and fast flowing river.
This river, which is theorised to have been much more powerful than any other discovered,
ancient water system on Mars, used to flow into Jezero crater.
This finding has changed the way we think about the scale of water systems on Mars
in the ancient past. Where previously we have found evidence of small streams and even lakes,
never have we found so much evidence pointing to something on par with the Mississippi.
This is Skrinkle Haven from orbital images. The banded rocks are thought to be remnants
of sand bars, which form as a result of a fast-flowing river losing speed as it widens
into the delta. As the water slows, sediments are deposited to form these interesting structures.
These structures are seen all over the Delta. Mars really was a wet planet, just like Earth.
The only remaining question is if this water harboured life.
On Sol 724, the rover looks at the helicopter again. The team at NASA
are planning a meet up between Perseverance and Ingenuity.
On Sol 728, the rover drives 655.8 metres, or just under half a mile,
a personal record for Perseverance, in order to get closer to the helicopter.
The reason? So that we can view a flight once again.
This video of flight 47 shows a confident and fully functioning
Ingenuity kicking up dust on take-off. At times, it’s hard to believe how far
the technology has come. We have an autonomous helicopter flying on Mars.
On Sol 738, Perseverance rises early to watch the sky just before sunrise and
captures some Martian clouds. On Mars, dawn and dusk have a blue hue, because of the way
the atmosphere scatters light. It would be a strange experience
for future human explorers, possibly reminding them of daytime on Earth.
During its travels, Perseverance has picked up yet more hitchhikers. This time in the
right front and right rear wheels. Our pet rock in the front left wheel,
which has travelled with us for around a year now, is still here and well!
The rover gets busy investigating a rock named Berea, after abrading a patch. Rock samples from
the top of the delta may be the best chance we have of finding ancient fossilized life,
as they are rich in carbonate. This video shows the drilling
operation. This is the 16th rock to be drilled and the 1st from the delta top campaign.
The sample is retrieved successfully and stored for future delivery
to the Mars Sample Return Mission. As the rover progresses up the delta,
it turns to get a view of the crater floor. There are lots of boulders in the foreground. These
boulders were likely carried by the river and so could have come from many kilometres upstream.
On Sol 756, Perseverance is looking west and spots a dust devil. Summertime is approaching
in Jezero crater, therefore we should start to see lots more dust devils.
After taking some colour images on a milestone flight number 50,
Ingenuity rests in a boulder filled landscape.
It’s quite hard to spot. Can you see the helicopter?
This is the best look at Ingenuity the team at NASA have had for a
while. While the helicopter looks a little dusty,
all the components seem to be intact and holding up well to the Martian environment.
After taking a good look at its friend, Perseverance tries to drive over a rock, before
deciding it’s too dangerous and backing up. With lots of soft sand around the rocks,
something notable has happened. The rover’s left front wheel has been flooded with lots
of sand. This poses no danger to the rover, but it may pose a threat to our pet rock.
On Sol 768, our worst fears are confirmed. Our Martian hitchhiker friend, which has
sat in Perseverance’s front left wheel for more than a year, has finally been ejected.
This is notable because it holds the record for the longest time and longest
distance hitchhiking on Mars. However, there are still plenty
of contenders for the title in other wheels. On Sol 772, the rover finally reaches Belva
crater and takes this stunning mosaic. The craters on Mars can help geologists
get a cross section into the surface. On Earth, geologists will sometimes visit places where a
road is being built, as the construction team has sliced directly into the ground. Craters on Mars
can provide a natural form of this opportunity. On the far side of the crater, we can see what
looks like more banded rocks. These could be more ancient sand bars.
As Perseverance looks out over the crater, Ingenuity takes to the skies
for flight 51 and spots something unnatural. It’s the rover - looking out at the crater.
It’s great that this image was relayed back to the rover, but Ingenuity has been having some
issues delivering its images to the rover. Because the terrain here is hilly and full of
rock features, the two explorers are rarely in line of sight of each other. Therefore,
as Ingenuity doesn’t contact Earth directly and we only get images from Perseverance, we aren’t
getting full images or details of the flights. The team at NASA must wait until the rover is
in range of the helicopter before sending the next flight plan.
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