#Ingenuity is in contact with #Perseverance. We know that because it just sent in some images from #flight46 and #Flight49.
What we don't know yet is whether #Flight53 has taken place as planned, last Saturday. Rising temperature and dropping pressure, both at night and during daylight, have decreased atmospheric density to below 0.0145kg/m3, the limit for low rpm rotor speed. Maybe this development caused a delay?
Hopefully we'll know soon.
Here is #Ingenuity's 49th landing, which took place on April 2, 2023. The images arrived today.
Processed, stabilized, animated HELI_NAV @4 fps
Sol: 752, RMC: 49.0001, LMST: 15:07:40
Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/00752/ids/edr/browse/heli/HNM_0752_0733708580_302ECM_N0490001HELI04787_0000A0J01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
#Flight49 #MarsHelicopter #Perseverance #Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space
#NASA's localization shows landing of #Flight49 next to a small regolith ripple.
This is an animation (testing some automated routines) made with the 2 HELI_NAV images downlinked so far, zooming in on the second image centered at the spot that appears to be the landing. The zoom does not contain actually received images. We'll see how close this is to the actual landing location when the rest of the images arrive.
This animation shows #Ingenuity's visibility at the landing location, at 0m (landed), 12m, and 16m (pop-up altitude):
Is this one of the expected "pop-up" flights for #Ingenuity? Most probably not. The image IDs have a 49 sequence, which apparently makes them pre-landing #Flight49.
2 processed and animated HELI_NAV
Sol: 752, Flight: 49, LMST: 15:07:31
Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/00752/ids/edr/browse/heli/HNM_0752_0733708571_311ECM_N0490001HELI04516_0000A0J01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
@tom30519
π Thanks, it's right at the edge of the newer image but I knew exactly where to look. π€
Also, I realized that those images were not re-captured for us to see Ingenuity, but for the team to find an easy path for the rover through those boulders higher up. It'll be going toward that direction in the coming sols.
EDIT: I was wrong. @PaulHammond51 found they were indeed captured for Ingenuity's #Flight49.
As we are waiting for news from #Flight49, I spotted #Ingenuity at its landing 48 location by comparing images captured toward its direction before and after #Flight48. The distance is 480m, quite far for a decent image of the #MarsHelicopter, but the technique yielded unambiguous results.
Animated MCZ RIGHT, LEFT
FL: 110mm
Sols: 737, 748, RMC: 37.0000
Originals: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/00748/ids/edr/browse/zcam/ZL0_0748_0733346536_832EBY_N0370000ZCAM05142_1100LMJ01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/00737/ids/edr/browse/zcam/ZR0_0737_0732365748_818EBY_N0370000ZCAM08746_1100LMJ01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/65dBnoise
The #MarsHelicopter plans to do a pop-up from 12 to 16m at the end of #Flight49. The heli will be in radio shadow after landing, no matter where it lands in that area. Here is what such a "pop-up" from the ground up to 16m will mean for #Ingenuity in terms of visibility (and therefore line-off-sight and radio link quality).
A pop-up type flight was thought of earlier in the mission as a way to have scheduled radio contacts between the heli and #Perseverance in cases
1/
#Ingenuity will break all its records (except distance) on #Flight49, which is scheduled for tomorrow, the earliest: a record speed of 6.5m/s and a record altitude of 16m (at the end of flight). Announcement here: https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/status/453/flight-49-preview-by-the-numbers
The #MarsHelicopter will do a "pop-up" from 12m to 16m at the end of the flight; such a maneuver has been mentioned in the past as a way to overcome radio coverage problems, but it may not be the case now.
See alt text.
65dBnoise