NASA's Mars Helicopter captures Perseverance rover's landing gear: Check out these phenomenal images

During a recent flight, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took photos of the entry, descent, and landing gear that enabled the agency's Perseverance rover to safely land on the Martian surface on February 18, 2021.

Ingenuity captured both the parachute that helped Perseverance land on the Red Planet and the cone-shaped backshell that protected the rover in deep space during its 26th flight on April 19, 2022.

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

While the parachute and backshell were previously imaged from a distance by the Perseverance rover itself, the new images provide more detail, which may help ensure safer landings for future spacecraft.

In the images captured by Ingenuity, the backshell's protective coating appears to have remained intact during Mars atmospheric entry. Many of the 80 high-strength suspension lines connecting the backshell to the parachute are visible and also appear intact, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

"Ingenuity's images offer a different vantage point. If they either reinforce that our systems worked as we think they worked or provide even one dataset of engineering information we can use for Mars Sample Return planning, it will be amazing. And if not, the pictures are still phenomenal and inspiring," said JPL's Ian Clark, former Perseverance systems engineer and now Mars Sample Return ascent phase lead.

We've seen Mars rover landing hardware on the ground, as in the case of Opportunity's heat shield (left), and from space, like @MarsCuriosity's parachute (right). But this is the first time it's been observed by helicopter! https://t.co/XMocS59vka https://t.co/gp9zOuUQwg pic.twitter.com/JgJL1BAl5w

— NASA Mars (@NASAMars) April 27, 2022

Ingenuity rode to Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover and landed on the planet's Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021. The helicopter was planned to complete no more than five flights, but it has complete 26, defying expectations.

Last month, NASA extended flight operations of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter through September 2022.