NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots Perseverance rover from space - See pics

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recently spotted Perseverance Mars rover and Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of the Red Planet from space. The pictures were captured by the HiRISE camera aboard the spacecraft on February 26, 2022 and shared by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory earlier this week.

In the above black-and-white image, the Perseverance Mars rover can be seen sitting on the fractured bedrock of the "Maaz" formation before its long drive to the Jezero Crater's delta. Jezero Crater is 28 miles (45 kilometres) wide and is located on the western edge of a flat plain called Isidis Planitia, which lies just north of the Martian equator. 

To the left of the rover - about 656 feet (200 meters) - is the Ingenuity helicopter (pictured below separately).

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has once again spotted the @NASAPersevere rover from space. And that dot on the right? It's the Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter! Details: https://t.co/sxAWMjJ0Vz pic.twitter.com/3gX7XUSCOj

— NASA Mars (@NASAMars) April 1, 2022

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter blasted off from Cape Canaveral in 2005 and since then, it has been mapping and photographing the Red Planet at high resolution. It is the second longest-lived spacecraft to orbit Mars, after the 2001 Mars Odyssey and also serves as a key data relay station for other Mars missions.

The high-resolution imaging science experiment camera, or HiRISE, is a 1.6-foot (0.5-meter) diameter reflecting telescope, the largest ever carried on a deep space mission. It is operated by the University of Arizona.

The orbiter also carries an optical navigation camera and Electra, a UHF telecommunications package to provide navigation and communications support to other landers and rovers on the Martian surface.