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NASA Ingenuity Mars helicopter, broken and alone, spotted by Perseverance rover on Martian dune (photo, video) 🔴
Space.com ^ | February 5, 2024 | Brett Tingley

Posted on 02/05/2024 5:05:32 PM PST by Ezekiel

Ingenuity already looks lonely.

NASA's Perseverance Rover took a photo of its broken companion, the Ingenuity helicopter, as it sat alone on a dune.

In this most recent photo of Ingenuity, the dual-rotor 'copter can be seen motionless on a sandy dune in the background, as a barren, rocky Mars landscape fills the foreground.

The photo was taken on Feb. 4, 2024, at 1:05 p.m. local mean solar time, a little over two weeks since it suffered its mission-ending damage.

NASA and JPL's Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars as seen by the Perseverance rover's
Mastcam-Z camera on Feb. 4, 2024. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Ingenuity suffered damage to its rotors during a flight on Jan. 18 as it made a landing on a featureless, "bland" patch of sandy Martian landscape. The helicopter usually makes use of landscape features such as rocks to help it navigate, but its 72nd flight found the drone without visual cues.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Local News; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ingenuity; mars; mars2020; perseverance
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Video zoom-in at link.
1 posted on 02/05/2024 5:05:32 PM PST by Ezekiel
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To: Ezekiel
NASA Ingenuity Mars helicopter, broken and alone…

Like so many freepers 🙂

2 posted on 02/05/2024 5:10:28 PM PST by IncPen ("Inside of every progressive is a Totalitarian screaming to get out" ~ David Horowitz)
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To: Ezekiel

Someday it will be returned to Earth and sold on Ebay for a cool $1,000,000.


3 posted on 02/05/2024 5:14:35 PM PST by freedomjusticeruleoflaw (Strange that a man with his wealth would have to resort to prostitution.)
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To: freedomjusticeruleoflaw

By the time that occurs, they won’t be using dollars, we will porbably be using Ningis.


4 posted on 02/05/2024 5:18:48 PM PST by wbarmy (Trying to do better.)
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To: IncPen

It is quite possible that Ingenuity is suffering from a stuned beeber.


5 posted on 02/05/2024 5:23:41 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: freedomjusticeruleoflaw

Let’s hope that some of these objects left on Mars, the Moon etc. stay there unmolested. Armstrong and Aldrin’s footprints should remain stamped into the lunar regolith for as long as human history endures. They are like a signature from mankind: “We were here.”


6 posted on 02/05/2024 5:24:32 PM PST by Ciaphas Cain (Dear Claire Wolfe: Is it still "too early"?)
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To: Ezekiel

I’m pretty sure I see a Jack Rabbit, helicopter not so much.


7 posted on 02/05/2024 5:27:23 PM PST by DAC21
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To: Ciaphas Cain

That would be a great tribute to our ‘60s and ‘70s space program, and to the astronauts themselves!


8 posted on 02/05/2024 5:30:27 PM PST by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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To: Ezekiel

Life on Mars is harsh and brief.


9 posted on 02/05/2024 5:42:41 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Ezekiel

I am of the belief that the time and resources expelled for these programs could be better served exploring our own oceans....If you don’t know how your own home is built how do you rationalize these expenditures?


10 posted on 02/05/2024 5:43:06 PM PST by mythenjoseph (Islam has NO place in a Christian society.)
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To: hole_n_one

It tried to zig for great justice, but all its rotor were belong to the Martians.


11 posted on 02/05/2024 5:50:14 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear (What is left around which to circle the wagons?)
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To: mythenjoseph

If the Navy/Air Force film is true of UAPs breaking the surface of the ocean with nary a sound or ripple, then maybe we shouldn’t go looking where we don’t know what we might find.


12 posted on 02/05/2024 5:51:47 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear (What is left around which to circle the wagons?)
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To: Ciaphas Cain

Yeah, it’s not like some old clapped-out Chevy sitting on blocks in the driveway...


13 posted on 02/05/2024 5:53:42 PM PST by bigbob
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

Bingo!


14 posted on 02/05/2024 5:56:57 PM PST by Macho MAGA Man (The last two weren't balloons. One was a cylindrical objects Trump is being given the Alex Jones tr)
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To: Ezekiel

Poor little fella.

I wonder what caused his blade to break?


15 posted on 02/05/2024 5:58:20 PM PST by Macho MAGA Man (The last two weren't balloons. One was a cylindrical objects Trump is being given the Alex Jones tr)
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To: Ezekiel

Looks like an old and broken toy discarded on the side of the road.


16 posted on 02/05/2024 6:00:08 PM PST by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)
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To: Ezekiel

How do you rationalize expenditures?

Eventually our Sun will expand, and we need to move out into space to survive. The helicopter is a proof-of-concept experiment to find out if powered flight is possible. It’s mission was, if it flew at all, to last may 30 days and fly 3-4 times. Well, like some other JPL missions (Opportunity Rover), the helicopter did not just prove flight is possible, it lasted over a year. The Perseverance rover that brought the helicopter Ingenuity to Mars also had other proof-of-concept experiments. One is called MOXIE, and MOXIE proved that we can make oxygen out of the Martian atmosphere. This is huuuuge. Instead of having to always bring oxygen to Mars, we can create to breathe, and also for fuel.

Currently there are at least 4 more space stations planned to orbit the Earth. We will eventually have space stations much farther out. Besides mining other planets and moons, we will mine the asteroid belt. Mars is just a stepping stone to humans exploring the cosmos, but a very necessary step. Many future experiments and proof-of-concept efforts will fail, as we figure out how to explore and survive out there.


17 posted on 02/05/2024 6:00:43 PM PST by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try)
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To: mythenjoseph
I am of the belief that the time and resources expelled for these programs could be better served exploring our own oceans....

Hey, that's what we had four seasons of "Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea" for!

18 posted on 02/05/2024 6:01:51 PM PST by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)
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To: telescope115

NASA and others have already worked with governments to hammer out agreements regarding historical sites on the Moon.

The idea generally is to prevent space tourism or tourists (sooner than we think, probably) from disturbing those sites. They are envisioning steps to keep those areas off-limits, a sort of “look but don’t touch”.

No selfies sitting in the lunar rover, I guess. I figure if I could get a charger or a battery up there, maybe take ‘er for a spin.


19 posted on 02/05/2024 6:02:23 PM PST by Freedom4US
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To: Ezekiel

NASA, Not A Space Agency.

More of a money laundering scheme


20 posted on 02/05/2024 6:07:58 PM PST by C210N (Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.)
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