Skip to main content

See Ingenuity hovering over the surface of Mars as captured by Perseverance

A new video from NASA shows the plucky little Mars helicopter Ingenuity in action, as captured by the Perseverance rover. The Perseverance rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to capture the helicopter taking off, hovering, moving around, and landing again in a sequence NASA described as “performing to near-perfection.”

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s Flight 13: Zoomed-In View From Perseverance

The video was taken during the helicopter’s 13th flight on September 4, and it is the most detailed footage captured so far of Ingenuity in the air. The thirteenth flight was particularly challenging as it involved the helicopter passing over a range of terrain types in the Séítah region and moving around an outcrop to photograph it from various different angles from an altitude of around 26 feet (8 meters).

“We took off from the crater floor and flew over an elevated ridgeline before dipping into Séítah,” said Ingenuity Chief Pilot Håvard Grip of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a statement. “Since the helicopter’s navigation filter prefers flat terrain, we programmed in a waypoint near the ridgeline, where the helicopter slows down and hovers for a moment. Our flight simulations indicated that this little ‘breather’ would help the helicopter keep track of its heading in spite of the significant terrain variations. It does the same on the way back. It’s awesome to actually get to see this occur, and it reinforces the accuracy of our modeling and our understanding of how to best operate Ingenuity.”

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s 13th Flight: Wide-Angle Video From Perseverance (Annotated)

Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z instrument contains two cameras and was able to capture the footage of Ingenuity in action. One camera captured the entire flight of the helicopter from a wide angle, while the other captured close-up footage of the take off and landing process.

“The value of Mastcam-Z really shines through with these video clips,” said Justin Maki, deputy principal investigator for the Mastcam-Z instrument. “Even at 300 meters [328 yards] away, we get a magnificent closeup of takeoff and landing through Mastcam-Z’s ‘right eye.’ And while the helicopter is little more than a speck in the wide view taken through the ‘left eye,’ it gives viewers a good feel for the size of the environment that Ingenuity is exploring.”

Editors' Recommendations

Georgina Torbet
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
NASA says goodbye to Mars helicopter Ingenuity after an incredible 72 flights
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its rotor blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

It's a sad day for space fans, as the plucky little helicopter Ingenuity has finally come to the end of its mission on Mars. The helicopter will not be making anymore flights due to damage to one of its rotors that occurred during a recent landing, NASA said in an announcement on Thursday, January 25.

The mission was originally planned to make just five flights and to last 30 days, but has been successful beyond what anyone had imagined. The helicopter has made a total of 72 flights over the course of its three-year mission, which began when it was set down on the surface of Mars by the Perseverance rover. The rover arrived on Mars with the helicopter tucked up underneath its belly in February 2021, and Ingenuity sat on the surface for the first time in April 2021. It then made history by becoming the first rotorcraft to fly on another planet with its maiden flight.

Read more
Gorgeous images show Axiom-3 crew over Himalayas on ISS approach
The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft carrying four Axiom MIssion 3 astronauts is pictured docked to the space station shortly after an orbital sunrise.

A SpaceX Crew Dragon approaching the ISS in the Axiom-3 mission. NASA

The first all-European commercial crew to head for the International Space Station (ISS) arrived safely at the orbital outpost on Saturday morning.

Read more
NASA regains communications with Mars helicopter Ingenuity
The Ingenuity helicopter is pictured on the surface of Mars.

Just a few days after losing contact with the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, NASA announced that it has regained communications with the plucky little helicopter. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which designed and operated the helicopter, announced that it is back in touch following an unexpected communications dropout.

The Ingenuity helicopter is pictured on the surface of Mars. NASA

Read more