NASA's Ingenuity helicopter captures a Mars rock feature in 3D

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter captures a Mars rock feature in 3D
This 3D view of an area the Mars Perseverance rover team calls "Faillefeu" was created from data collected by NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 13th flight at Mars on Sept. 4, 2021. The images used to create the 3D, or anaglyph, picture of the geologic feature were taken at the request of the Mars Perseverance rover science team, which was considering visiting the geologic feature during the first science campaign. The anaglyph is best viewed with red-blue glasses. It was created by combining data from two images taken 16 feet (5 meters) apart by the color camera aboard Ingenuity. At the time the two images were taken, Ingenuity was at an altitude of 26 feet (8 meters). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter provided a 3D view of a rock-covered mound during its 13th flight on Sept. 4. The plan for this reconnaissance mission into the "South Seítah" region of Mars' Jezero Crater was to capture images of this geologic target—nicknamed "Faillefeu" (after a medieval abbey in the French Alps) by the agency's Perseverance rover team—and to obtain the color pictures from a lower altitude than ever before: 26 feet (8 meters).

About 33 (10 meters) wide, the mound is visible just north of the center of the image, with some large rocks casting shadows. Stretching across the top of the image is a portion of "Artuby," a ridgeline more than half a mile (900 meters) wide. At the bottom of the image, and running vertically up into the middle, are a few of the many sand ripples that populate South Seítah.

Best viewed with red-blue glasses, this stereo, or 3D, view (also called an anaglyph) was created by combining data from two images taken 16 feet (5 meters) apart by the color camera aboard Ingenuity.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter captures a Mars rock feature in 3D
This image of an area the Mars Perseverance rover team calls Faillefeu was captured by NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 13th flight at Mars on September 4, 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Citation: NASA's Ingenuity helicopter captures a Mars rock feature in 3D (2021, September 21) retrieved 20 June 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2021-09-nasa-ingenuity-helicopter-captures-mars.html
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