While space agencies are eager to send humans to Mars for the first time in history, gathering as much data as possible using rovers is a ‘must.’ NASA knows that lesson very well, which is why it sent the Perseverance rover there in February 2021.
The Ingenuity helicopter that’s connected to NASA’s rover has proven to be extremely useful until now. And once again, we’re amazed by what it found.
Ingenuity finds debris of the Perseverance rover on Mars
We’re sorry to disappoint you, but the spacecraft wreckage that NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter found on the Red Planet is not of any alien origin. It’s just debris belonging to the touchdown of NASA’s Perseverance rover itself, according to CBS News.
NASA even unveiled some relevant photos on Twitter:
The @NASAPersevere vehicle entered @NASAMars atmosphere at nearly 12,500 mph on Feb. 18, 2021. These new images taken by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter show the parachute and the cone-shaped backshell that helped protect and land the rover.
MORE >> https://t.co/xRlfyLCCBb pic.twitter.com/6TwtkW7AJA
— NASA_SLS (@NASA_SLS) April 28, 2022
Ian Clark from JPL, who’s ascent phase lead of Mars Sample Return, stated as CBS News quotes:
Perseverance had the best-documented Mars landing in history, with cameras showing everything from parachute inflation to touchdown,
But Ingenuity’s images offer a different vantage point. If they either reinforce that our systems worked as we think they worked or provide even one dataset of engineering information we can use for Mars Sample Return planning, it will be amazing. And if not, the pictures are still phenomenal and inspiring.
Elon Musk is probably the most confident person when it comes to the possibility of sending humans to Mars in the future. He released a controversial claim recently, saying that almost everybody would afford to go to the Red Planet in the future after buying a ticket from SpaceX that will cost $100,000.
Otherwise, NASA also takes seriously into account the idea of sending astronauts to Mars, and the space agency is even confident that it could be done by the end of the decade.
