A NEW Nasa image has invited users to try and spot the space agency’s tiny Mars helicopter.
CNET flagged the photo, which resembles an optical illusion as the helicopter appears to hide in plain sight.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASUA mind-bogging Nasa image has invited users to try and spot the space agency’s tiny Mars helicopter[/caption]
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASUThis image shows where the tiny helicopter is on the scene[/caption]
In the image, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter seamlessly blends into Mars’ surface, which comprises dirt, dunes and debris.
The scene displays a rocky part of Jezero, a crater on Mars in the Syrtis Major quadrangle.
Also easily spotted on the bottom left of the photograph are NASA’s Perseverance rover’s tracks.
Perseverance snapped the photo on January 8 using one of its many mounted cameras.
The rover, which has been on Mars since February 2021, just completed its 38th flight.
One Twitter user called the snap of Ingenuity the closest view we’ve seen in “quite a long time.”
Ingenuity
Affectionately known as NASA’s Mars helicopter, Ingenuity measures about 19 inches in height and weighs four pounds.
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The instrument was also sent to Mars in February 2021, as it hitched a ride with Perseverance.
Its primary goal is to demonstrate test-powered, controlled flights on another world.
Perseverance, on the other hand, is searching for past life on Mars and collecting soil and rock samples to be studied on Earth.
The rover will also help to prepare for future human exploration, NASA said.
Most recently, Perseverance deposited its first sample of Martian rock on Mars’s Surface.
The titanium tube is currently resting on the Red Planet’s surface after being placed there on December 21, per NASA.
Over the next two months, the rover will deposit 10 tubes at the same location, dubbed “Three Forks.”
This is to build humanity’s first sample depot on another planet.