A brand-new batch of images taken by the Ingenuity helicopter throughout its current flight over the surface area of Mars is assisting NASA researchers to improve science goals for the Perseverance rover and chart the best path forward as they browse for signs of life on the Red Planet.The color images, downlinked on Thursday (July 8) following Ingenuitys ninth flight, show the surface area of Jezero Crater, the landing website of the Perseverance rover, from an altitude of merely 33 feet (10 meters). The images allow scientists to see much smaller surface functions, such as individual boulders and rocks, than are visible in the images from Mars orbiters that are typically used for planning the path of the rover.” Once a rover gets close adequate to a place, we get ground-scale images that we can compare to orbital images,” Perseverance Deputy Project Scientist Ken Williford of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California said in a declaration. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Image 2 of 3NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flew over this dune field in an area of Jezero Crater nicknamed “Séítah” during its ninth flight, on July 5, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Image 3 of 3NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flew over these sand dunes and rocks throughout its ninth flight, on July 5, 2021.

A brand-new batch of images taken by the Ingenuity helicopter during its current flight over the surface area of Mars is assisting NASA researchers to fine-tune science goals for the Perseverance rover and chart the finest route forward as they search for signs of life on the Red Planet.The color images, downlinked on Thursday (July 8) following Ingenuitys ninth flight, reveal the surface of Jezero Crater, the landing website of the Perseverance rover, from an altitude of simply 33 feet (10 meters). The images allow scientists to see much smaller sized surface functions, such as individual boulders and rocks, than are visible in the images from Mars orbiters that are normally utilized for preparing the path of the rover.” Once a rover gets close adequate to a location, we get ground-scale images that we can compare to orbital images,” Perseverance Deputy Project Scientist Ken Williford of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California stated in a declaration.