Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 April 3

                             Ingenuity on Sol 39
                   Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS

   Explanation: The Mars Ingenuity Helicopter, all four landing legs down,
   was captured here on sol 39 (March 30) slung beneath the belly of the
   Perseverance rover. The near ground level view is a mosaic of images
   from the WATSON camera on the rover's SHERLOC robotic arm. Near the
   center of the frame the experimental helicopter is suspended just a few
   centimeters above the martian surface. Tracks from Perseverance extend
   beyond the rover's wheels with the rim of Jezero crater visible about 2
   kilometers in the distance. Ingenuity has a weight of 1.8 kilograms or
   4 pounds on Earth. That corresponds to a weight of 0.68 kilograms or
   1.5 pounds on Mars. With rotor blades spanning 1.2 meters it will
   attempt to make the first powered flight of an aircraft on another
   planet in the thin martian atmosphere, 1 percent as dense as Earth's,
   no earlier than sol 48 (April 8).

                 Tomorrow's picture: In, Through, and Beyond
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

--- hpt/lnx 1.9.0