"All the same, I agree with my reviewer that I don’t write hard science fiction. Maybe I write easy science fiction. Or maybe the hard stuff’s inside, hidden — like bones, as opposed to an exoskeleton.…"

— Ursula K. Le Guin, 2005

https://www.ursulakleguin.com/a-rant-about-technology

#UrsulaLeGuin #SciFi

Variations on a theme:

The sands of Mars

By #Ingenuity

Processed HELI_RTE
Sol: 899, RMC: 57.0001, LMST: 10:06:02
Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/00899/ids/edr/browse/heli/HSF_0899_0746739842_742ECM_N0570001HELI00000_000085J01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#MarsHelicopter #Perseverance #Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

And so we've reached #Flight60 🚁 !

#Ingenuity will fly again on Monday, Sept 25, 2023, to the northern part of the rocky area where Mandu Wall lies, about 160m WSW of Jurabi Point, as seen on the map. And will do so in a record breaking speed of 8 m/s!

Flight announcement: https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/status/483/flight-60-preview-by-the-numbers/

The flight path and landing shown on the map are guesses.

#MarsHelicopter #Mars2020 #NASA #Solarocks #Space #IngenuityFlightPrediction

With the ink that printed the announcement of a successful #Flight57 still wet (yeah, that was the cliche back in the day of paper news), #Ingenuity's #Flight58 is now announced for Sep 11, 2023:

https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/status/479/flight-58-preview-by-the-numbers/

Guessed flight path and landing shown in the map.

#MarsHelicopter #Mars2020 #NASA #Solarocks #Space #QGIS #MMGIS #USGS #HiRISE

#Ingenuity flew its #Flight55 on Sol 881.

Map follows in thread.

Processed HELI_RTE, HELI_NAV
Sol: 881, RMC: 55.0001, LMST: 13:06:48
Originals:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/00881/ids/edr/browse/heli/HSF_0881_0745153045_804ECM_N0550001HELI00003_000085J01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/00881/ids/edr/browse/heli/HNM_0881_0745153085_771ECM_N0550001HELI04365_0000A0J01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#MarsHelicopter #Perseverance #Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

The Martian landscape as seen by the Perseverance Mars rover on Sol 880.
Ingenuity is also visible at 50m distance from the rover.

Full res: https://flic.kr/p/2oW13rS

#Perseverance #Mars2020 #Space #Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter #Solarocks

Absence.

Processed, undistorted, cropped NAVCAM_LEFT mosaic
Sol: 884, RMC: 43.0554, LMST: 14:56:55
Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/00884/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NLF_0884_0745426158_050ECM_N0430554NCAM03884_07_195J01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#MarsHelicopter #Ingenuity #Perseverance #Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

Sol 881: Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter completed Flight 55! 🎉 Here are 2 color images taken from the RTE camera.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/martiandennis