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Feb 9, 2022 · A photo appearing to show an alien basking on the surface of Mars has caught attention online recently—but is it possible that Mars could host such a life form? U.S. World
Sep 10, 2021 · Sep 10, 2021. Article. Do aliens exist? Extraterrestrial life has never been discovered, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. At NASA, astrobiologists like Lindsay Hays are trying to answer one of the most profound questions ever: Is there life beyond Earth? Do Aliens Exist? We Asked a NASA Scientist. Watch on. Do aliens exist?
Sep 6, 2023 · NASA may have unknowingly found and killed alien life on Mars 50 years ago, scientist claims. News. By Harry Baker. published 6 September 2023. One researcher hypothesizes that experiments...
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- Anniversary Flight
It's an eerie scene: A desolate Martian landscape, completely empty, save for the wreckage of what appears to be an alien spacecraft. And it was all captured by a tiny helicopter flying overhead.
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, the first to fly on another planet, has beamed back some of the most fascinating photos of the red planet yet, showing off what is actually debris from its landing aboard the Perseverance rover in February 2021. The space agency said this week that the debris that allowed for a safe descent could contain useful insights for future missions.
The 10 aerial color photos feature both the parachute that aided the roughly $2.5 billion rover's landing, as well as the cone-shaped backshell that protected it during its intense descent to the surface. They were taken during Ingenuity's 26th flight, NASA said.
"NASA extended Ingenuity flight operations to perform pioneering flights such as this," said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity's team lead at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Every time we're airborne, Ingenuity covers new ground and offers a perspective no previous planetary mission could achieve."
Known as the "seven minutes of terror," scientists say that the entry, descent and landing on Mars is stressful not just for them, but for the rovers themselves — due to the high temperatures and other extremes that come with it. The new, highly-detailed images, could potentially improve the landings of future spacecraft, including the Mars Sample Return Lander, which promises to bring Martian samples home to Earth for further study for the very first time.
"Perseverance had the best-documented Mars landing in history, with cameras showing everything from parachute inflation to touchdown," said JPL's Ian Clark, former Perseverance systems engineer and now Mars Sample Return ascent phase lead.
Ingenuity's Flight 26 came on April 19, the one-year anniversary of its historic first flight. In its infancy, researchers were unsure just how long the $85 million drone would last on the red planet, celebrating each and every flight as a major milestone.
This time, it flew 26 feet above the ground for 159 seconds to capture the images. In total, the helicopter, which weighs only about four pounds, traveled 1,181 feet during its journey.
"To get the shots we needed, Ingenuity did a lot of maneuvering, but we were confident because there was complicated maneuvering on flights 10, 12, and 13," said Håvard Grip, chief pilot of Ingenuity at JPL. "Our landing spot set us up nicely to image an area of interest for the Perseverance science team on Flight 27, near 'Séítah' ridge."
Ingenuity has now logged over 49 minutes of flight time in total and traveled 3.9 miles. But the new area of operations over the Jezero Crater's dry river delta — filled with jagged cliffs, boulders and angled surfaces — marks a massive departure from the relatively flat terrain it traversed in earlier flights.
Researchers hope the helicopter can now survey the delta to help determine which path Perseverance should climb to reach the top. Additionally, it could help the team identify potential targets for scientific exploration, as the rover begins its search for ancient life on Mars.
•How NASA flew a drone on Mars
- CBS News
- Sophie Lewis
- 14 min
Jan 31, 2022 · By Nadia Drake. January 31, 2022. • 12 min read. For scientists searching for alien lifeforms, the siren song of Mars is climbing toward a crescendo. Multiple recent observations made by rovers...
- 7 min
- Nadia Drake
Apr 5, 2023 · April 5, 2023. 7 min read. NASA’s Perseverance Rover May Already Have Evidence of Ancient Martian Life. A half-kilogram’s worth of samples gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover for eventual...
Apr 27, 2022 · By Kenneth Chang. April 27, 2022. The object resembles a flying saucer that crashed on Mars. And indeed it is. But it doesn’t belong to aliens. Instead, the wreckage is the work of NASA, a...
