#Ingenuity will be visible from different angles along #Perseverance's route to Bright Angel, although the rover will be increasingly more distant from the #MarsHelicopter . Its current location is about as close as it will ever get to it so, naturally, a series of MCZ and SUPERCAM images should be expected to be captured.
Here is a map that shows a predicted route to Bright Angel which is presumed to be the rover's next target:
My processing is not great and I'm sure more talented people can do a much better job (please do), but the view here is nothing less than epic. Neretva Vallis east of #Ingenuity (included in the image) in all its glory!
Quick NAVCAM_LEFT mosaic, cropped, undistorted, leveled
looking NNE (24°) from RMC 51.2578
Sol 1109, LMST: 13:45:50
The image shows the location of Bright Angel, a light colored rock formation at the base of the ancient Neretva Vallis riverbank, where #Ingenuity's team said they planned to meet with #Perseverance, had its grounding not occurred. It is very possible that the rover will visit that area in the near future.
Processed, NAVCAM_RIGHT mosaic
looking W (270°) from RMC 51.2794
Sol 1110, LMST: 13:17:18
New location for #Perseverance on Sol 1110, possibly an intermediate one, ~20m W and right in the middle of the area with visibility to #Ingenuity. This location may be the closest the rover will ever get to the #MarsHelicopter and have it in full view.
It seems to have stopped and backed off a little in front of another rego-ripple.
Processed FRONT_HAZCAM_LEFT_A
looking WSW (246°) from RMC 51.2794
Sol 1110, LMST: 13:11:48
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
#Perseverance moved again on Sol 1109 to RMC 51.2578, and as expected #Ingenuity is again visible, this time from a different angle and a closer distance, ~375m:
Quick NAVCAM_RIGHT mosaic, heavily processed, undistorted, cropped
looking NW (312°) from RMC 51.2578
Sol 1109, LMST: 13:31:02
#Perseverance moved another ~40m to SW to RMC 51.2390, inching closer to the area where it will again have visibility to #Ingenuity (green on the map). The path shown is a guess.
EDIT: Updated map. New images coming in show that the rover moved further south to avoid some difficult to drive through terrain.
"[U]sing Ingenuity on Mars to test our macro capabilities: flying higher and faster, landing at various speeds, and generally expanding the flight envelope to retire the associated risk for future Martian rotorcraft. The holy grail, however, is understanding the microscale – […] knowing how it flies faster."
That and more in a new blog post by Martin Cacan, Chief Pilot, and Shannah Withrow-Maser, Rotorcraft Aeromechanics Lead
Another drive for #Perseverance on Sol 1101, to RMC 51.1348, about 80m SW of its previous location. The rover did not follow the narrow northern route my crystal ball had predicted earlier 🥴 but preferred a wider, flatter and probably safer inland route for its traverse. #Ingenuity is not visible from the new location. The route shown is a guess.
This map shows where along the edge of the ancient riverbank to expect #Ingenuity to be visible again by #Perseverance's masthead cameras, NAVCAM, MCZ and SUPERCAM. Dark areas have no visibility to the #MarsHelicopter.
On Sol 1100 #Perseverance drove 33m to a new location, 18m WSW, apparently trying to avoid a sandy patch south of the rocky top in front of it. It's now 373m away from #Ingenuity, but the #MarsHelicopter is still not in view.
Map follows.
Processed, undistorted, leveled, cropped NAVCAM_LEFT mosaic
looking from RMC 51.0644
Sol 1100, LMST: 15:52:25
According to #Ingenuity's Chief Engineer Travis Brown (2h interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4XpLZqc6ao), the plan for the heli after #Flight72 was to meet #Perseverance somewhere close to Bright Angel, a future science target for the rover. The rover would take some pictures of the heli from close range to document changes on the hardware that had occurred over the course of 3 years.
Brown also mentioned that Ingenuity's budget was running dry
before the crash, and also that there was a sense that their mission would soon come to an end, so they were thinking about retiring the #MarsHelicopter on a hilltop, where it would be something like a monument of human achievement. And that's what happened, although it ended up not on a pedestal, but in sand dunes.
#Ingenuity is currently logging solar data, temperature data, and can take pictures on a daily basis.
NASA SpaceFlight #NSF had a very interesting live interview with Travis Brown, PhD, #Ingenuity's current Chief Engineer. Travis said that in spite of an original though/assumption that Ingenuity's rotors had hit the ground during landing of #Flight72, they now tend to believe that it was rather a very hard landing that damaged the rotors, since there is no evidence anywhere on the regolith of a blade hit.
#Ingenuity had a software change recently (after the crash) that allows it to store data it collects (in non volatile memory previously used for flight, I presume), and it can now collect certain data for about 20 years. So whenever the rover is within radio range, maybe when it'll be coming back from the mountains to deliver the samples to the #MSR lander, it may be able to download the collected data, assuming of course that Ingenuity will still be alive to say hello and do the transfer.
Here is a prediction for the next 100m or so, for the rover. It's based on the assumption than the last drive was intended to bring #Perseverance closer to the edge of the plateau. There seem to be two alternatives for the rover: one back to the inner land and along flat land contours, the other closer to the edge and along a low slope route, with the benefit of the best view to #Ingenuity so far, which appears to be what they are doing now.
It looks like #Perseverance has placed its robotic arm back in the stowed position, meaning we may see the rover moving again. So what? (More in alt text)
EDIT: Nope, not stowed. See 🧵 🔽
Here's 2 pixels of glorious #Ingenuity in the latest NAVCAM mosaic: 😀
Processed, undistorted NAVCAM_RIGHT mosaic
looking WNW (300°) from RMC 51.0000
Sol 1090, LMST: 10:52:25