NASA experts left baffled after spotting bizarre object stuck to foot of Mars helicopter
1NASA experts left baffled after spotting bizarre object stuck to foot of Mars helicopter.
NASA is investigating a piece of debris that has appeared on the foot of the Ingenuity helicopter during its latest flight through the skies of Mars.
The small piece of “foreign object debris” was spotted by the Mars helicopter’s navigation camera (Navcam) on its latest flight — having not been present during the craft’s previous short hop.
The US space agency's jet propulsion laboratory tweeted this morning that the object “eventually came off and did not impact a successful Flight 33.”
In a status update — which included a video clip of the flight — a NASA spokesperson said: “The foreign object debris is seen in Flight 33 Navcam imagery from the earliest frames to approximately halfway through the video.”
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At this point, they explained, the object was seen to fall from the rotorcraft’s landing legs and drift back down to the Martian surface.