The sunsets on Mars are just as good as those on Earth.
NASA recently published a new picture from its Ingenuity helicopter featuring a sunset on the Red Planet from its 45th flight, an event that the space agency previously thought to be an impossibility.
Ingenuity and its parent rover, the Mars Perseverance Rover, are still kicking about on Mars in search of signs of ancient microbial life on the planet in the hopes of finding evidence that life or liquid water previously existed there.
NASA Ingenuity Sunset Photo Details
NASA's publication of Ingenuity's sunset photo is an unexpected impossibility. According to NASA Ingenuity team lead Teddy Tzanetos, any flight past the fifth could be the last, and it wouldn't be surprising to them to see the helicopter's parts failing.
Regardless, the fact that Ingenuity is still perfectly functional and can still take pictures as well as it does now is a miracle on its own. According to Space.com, the helicopter took to the skies with an elevation of nearly a third of a mile before snapping the photo NASA published.
Ingenuity took its Martian sunset picture on Feb. 22, during its 45th Red Planet flight. According to NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover page, Ingenuity took a picture of the Martian sunset using its high-resolution color camera, which is mounted in Ingenuity's fuselage and pointed approximately 22 degrees below the horizon.
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The picture mainly focused on the ground rather than the sunset as it was searching for "interesting biological features" and potential obstacles ahead for Perseverance to look out for when it took the picture. As such, the sunset didn't take a prominent spot in ingenuity's photo.
After all, Ingenuity's main task is to capture airborne imagery that gives Perseverance's handlers the necessary data they need to choose the safest and most efficient route toward the delta region, according to NASA mission team members.
However, the picture did reveal that the sun's last remaining rays on Mars helped reveal the Jezero Crater's rolling landscape of sand and rocks, which almost feels like a place here on Earth.
Regardless, the fact that Ingenuity was able to take a picture of a Martian sunset with the actual sun in frame is a rare occurrence in its history.
Ingenuity's Life So Far
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has had an interesting life so far. Since its arrival on the Red Planet's Jezerto Crater on Feb. 18, 2021, the helicopter completed 45 flights, which it can do on its own, proving NASA wrong that it could only survive five flights on Mars without its parts failing.
Though its 35th flight lasted for only 52 seconds, it covered 46 feet of ground as it flew 46 feet into the Martian atmosphere to scope out its surroundings, setting a new soaring record.
Meanwhile, NASA will soon have Ingenuity in the air again for its 47th flight on Mars, proving once again that it isn't out of the fight just yet and that it has many more days or months left to offer before it experiences malfunctions - if it ever does.
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