Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2024 February 10
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                The Shadow of Ingenuity's Damaged Rotor Blade
             Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JPL-Caltech, [5]Ingenuity

   Explanation: [6]On January 18, 2024, during its 72nd flight in the thin
   Martian atmosphere, autonomous [7]Mars Helicopter Ingenuity rose to an
   altitude of 12 meters (40 feet) and hovered for 4.5 seconds above the
   Red Planet. Ingenuity's 72nd landing was a rough one though. During
   descent it lost contact with the Perseverance rover about 1 meter above
   the Martian surface. Ingenuity was able to transmit this image after
   contact was re-established, [8]showing the shadow of one of its rotor
   blades likely damaged during landing. And so, after wildly [9]exceeding
   expectations during over 1,000 days of exploring Mars, the
   history-making Ingenuity has ended its flight operations. Nicknamed
   Ginny, Mars Helicopter Ingenuity became the first aircraft to achieve
   powered, controlled flight on another planet [10]on April 19, 2021.
   Before launch, a small piece of material from the lower-left wing of
   the [11]Wright Brothers Flyer 1, the first aircraft to achieve powered,
   controlled flight on planet Earth, was [12]fixed to the underside of
   Ingenuity's solar panel.

              Tomorrow's picture: the shadow of a rocket plume
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [28]Specific rights apply.
              [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC,
                         [33]NASA Science Activation
                           & [34]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2402/PIA26243-web.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
   5. https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/
   6. https://mars.nasa.gov/news/9540/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends/
   7. https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/
   8. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia26243-ingenuity-spots-the-shadow-of-its-damaged-rotor-blade
   9. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/videos/?v=577
  10. https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-succeeds-in-historic-first-flight/
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer
  12. https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA24291
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240209.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=240210
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240211.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  34. http://www.mtu.edu/