Nasa helicopter snaps stunning photo of Mars from Martian sky – can you spot the tiny rover?

NASA has revealed a stunning aerial snap of Mars taken by its record-breaking Ingenuity helicopter.

If you look really closely you can even spot the Nasa Perseverance rover looking tiny in the image.

NASA

Can you spot the Perseverance rover in this image taken by the Mars helicopter?[/caption]

Eagle-eyed observers may have already spotted the rover in the top left corner of the photo.

Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted the picture and wrote: “I spy with my little eye…a rover.

“See if you can spot @NASAPersevere in this image taken by the #MarsHelicopter during its third flight on April 25, 2021.

“Ingenuity was flying at an altitude of 16 ft (5 m) and ~279 ft (~85 m) from the rover at the time.”

Nasa completed the third test of its Mars helicopter over the weekend.

The Perseverance rover’s own Twitter account replied to the aerial image tweet.

It said: “Oh hey, there I am!

“Never thought I’d be the subject of another photographer on Mars.

“Great capture by the #MarsHelicopter team.”

The Ingeneuity helicopter has since completed a fourth flight.

Any images it takes are unprecedented because its the first ever Earthly aircraft of its kind to take flight on a different planet.

So far its just been hovering above 200 feet and taken some colour images.

Mars facts

Here’s what you need to know about the Red Planet…

• Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
• It is named after the Roman god of war
• The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
• Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
• Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
• It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
• So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful

In other space news, China appears to be developing a knockoff version of SpaceX’s next-generation rocket as it moves to enter a new space race with the US.

Elon Musk has claimed that SpaceX could land astronauts on the Moon within the next three years.

And, the world’s first reality show filmed in space will follow a contestant on a 10-day trip to the ISS in 2023.

What are your thoughts on the Mars helicopter? Let us know in the comments…

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