This image shows the actual inclination of the ground at RMC 52.0130, the current location of #Perseverance on Sol 1131, and, maybe, why the trip to Bright Angel down the ancient riverbank and into the sandy Neretva riverbed might be risky.
Map follows
Processed, undistorted, leveled NAVCAM_RIGHT quick mosaic
looking SW (218°) from RMC 52.0120
Sol 1131, LMST: 13:20:47
Which way to go?
White route leads to Bright Angel.
Green route leads inland and eventually upward toward the cater rim. The photo shows the (guessed) start of the green route.
The western face of the ripple where #Ingenuity landed in its final flight 72 looked very steep in the other images, and indeed, the rover was tilted 10.9° when it captured these images. So, here is one corrected to horizontal, also showing markings relative to #TheMarsHelicopter..
Processed and leveled MCZ_RIGHT, FL: 110mm
looking from RMC 52.0000
Sol 1130, LMST: 16:19:13
IIRC, they said DSOC wouldn't be involved in #Psyche's data comms, but probably no one believed them 😀, I certainly didn't :
"#NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment also interfaced with the Psyche spacecraft’s communication system for the first time, transmitting engineering data to Earth."
So, it appears we should definitely expect spectacular high resolution images from Psyche, when the spacecraft arrives there, or even long before it does.
I believe we can now reconstruct the last moments of #Ingenuity's #Flight72 with some certainty. The actual trajectory may be a little more complicated, e.g. turning while hopping, but we'll never know.
EDIT: there is a new theory about Flight 71, see comments.
Animation
Processed MCZ_RIGHT, FL: 110mm
looking NNE (16°) from RMC 52.0000
Sol 1130, LMST: 16:19:24
New site number 52 for #Perseverance on Sol 1129, but apparently at the same location. The rover appears to be stuck in a sand field, although that may not be the reason for its recent inactivity.
Processed, leveled NAVCAM_LEFT mosaic
looking SE (126°) from RMC 52.0000
Sol 1129, LMST: 14:53:23
Nope, that's not Mars. That's the Quisquiro salt flat in South America’s Altiplano region which represents the kind of landscape that scientists think may have existed in Gale Crater on Mars, which #NASA’s #Curiosity Rover is exploring.
Gale Crater is the only place on the surface of Mars where methane has been detected thus far. Its likely source are geological mechanisms that involve water and rocks deep underground.
ESA Venus Express VMC
2006-05-21T22:29
Orbit 31
Filters:
V0031_0015_UV2
V0031_0016_N22
Image created using data processed from: https://www.psa.esa.int/
Drive on Sol 1124 to site 51.5030. Looks like a nice location for SuperCam to take a peep at the west side of the ripple where Ingenuity is collecting data.
Maybe one of our last images of #Ingenuity, if one can call those few pixels an "image" of the #MarsHelicopter. There haven't been any SUPERCAM images from this new angle so far, so such wide FOV NAVCAM images is all that we have.
Quick NAVCAM_LEFT mosaic
looking from RMC 51.4692
Sol 1123, LMST: 11:16:05
"[T]he helicopter is ready for its final act: to serve as a stationary testbed, collecting data that could benefit future explorers of the Red Plan
[…]
The team has calculated Ingenuity’s memory could potentially hold about 20 years’ worth of daily data."
It appears as if #Perseverance wants to change route away from the riverbank edge and tries to find a clear path for its journey to Jezero's rim, in which case the Bright Angel target may have been abandoned.
The green dashed line shows a possible route, after tosol's new drive to RMC 51.4692. The new path (double white stitch) is a guess.
#Ingenuity may be marginally visible again, but will disappear for a long time if the green route is to be followed.
#Ingenuity's location is indeed visible, especially the western side of the ripple where apparently it first touched down, though the helicopter itself is too small to be discernible in a NAVCAM image.
Processed, enlarged, cropped NAVCAM_LEFT
looking from RMC 51.4692
Sol 1122, LMST: 14:50:56