The 9th flight on Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was a success. Unlike with previous flights, this time Ingenuity flew over not the safe flat grounds, but over a sandy terrain called "Séítah". This kind of area is difficult, if not dangerous, for a rover to wheel through However, it can be easily surveyed from air. This proves that rover-helicopter combo can expand science value of the mission by covering more diverse areas which would not be possible to explore with a rover alone.
Atop this ULA Atlas V rocket will be Perseverance, a car-sized rover which will explore an ancient river delta on Mars. Armed with a suite of six scientific instruments, Perseverance will primarily hunt for clues to the planet's distant past, and hopefully uncover signs of ancient life and habitability. The rover also carries an experiment that'll convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, a box-sized helicopter named Ingenuity that'll demonstrate powered flight on Mars, and a system that enables the rover to leave behind samples for later retrieval and return to Earth during NASA and ESA's ambitious sample return mission later this decade.
Heliocentric N/A