Up there is where #Perseverance took some of the best shots of #Ingenuity at its final landing location. It was there two months ago, around Sol 1100. Tosol is Sol 1163 of the mission.
MCZ_RIGHT, FL: 79mm
looking ESE (109°) from RMC 52.3158
Sol 1161, LMST: 13:00:02
#Ingenuity is seen here sticking its solar panel above the sandy waves of #ValinorHills in this image from Sol 1152 received today. While the solar panel of the #MarsHelicopter may still be visible from the rover at its present location on Sol 1159, it will soon disappear when #Perseverance clears the ripples it's facing on its way northwest to Bright Angel.
New location for #Perseverance on Sol 1144, RMC 52.1950.
This may be the last location visible by #Ingenuity's RTE camera, as the rover has now reached the theoretical limit of its field-of-view (cyan line). The #MarsHelicopter has been programmed to capture one RTE image every sol for as long as it is able to wake up every sol perform its routine of gathering environmental and system data, as a stationary testbed.
New location for #Perseverance on Sol 1143, RMC 52.1700, presumably still within #Ingenuity's field-of-view. It appears there may be as many as 3 frames of the rover crossing the FOV of the color RTE camera of the #MarsHelicopter, now a stationary testbed collecting images, temperature and other data on a solly basis from its final location at Vallinor Hills.
#Perseverance moved to the center of the area which is most probably visible by #Ingenuity, and it could appear in one or more of the color RTE images the #MarsHelicopter is capturing every sol, if everything is going according to plan.
This animation shows the path along which #Perseverance will probably be visible by the "stationary testbed" #Ingenuity. The steep slope of the ancient Neretva riverbank starts where this path ends.
Animation
Quickly processed, undistorted, leveled NAVCAM_RIGHT mosaic
looking W (270°) from RMC 52.1146
Sol 1140, LMST: 12:33:16
Earlier today, the #Perseverance rover captured this long distance view of the #Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. The new image shows possible footprints from an earlier flight to the left of the current location.
#Perseverance at last turned its SUPERCAM telescope to #Ingenuity. That's from a 500m distance. The smudge between the heli and its footprints on the left is dust or some other SUPERCAM flaw that exists in all images.
The glint from the metallic foot joint is noticeable.
Processed, cropped SUPERCAM_RMI
looking NNE (29°) from RMC 52.0870
Sol 1139, LMST: 12:31:58
#Perseverance's team taking a look back at the #MarsHelicopter, which had been a companion of their rover for the past 3 years on Mars and is now forced to stay behind.
Processed, leveled MCZ_LEFT, FL: 110mm
looking NNE (29°) from RMC 52.0870
Sol 1138, LMST: 13:27:55
#Perseverance seems to be determined to reach Bright Angel as soon as possible, even if it has to do it in short drives every sol, through rocky ground.
If the #MarsHelicopter#Ingenuity does take an RTE picture every Martian morning as stated, then it will most probably capture the rover as it descends slowly the slope of Neretva riverbank. The only question then is when we will see those images.
Inching closer. Another ~70m to go and, maybe, #NASA will check to see if #Ingenuity is still functioning, by taking a couple of RTE images, and hopefully have it get a last glimpse of #Perseverance before it disappears below the horizon.
And, don't say the rover has turned its back on little #MarsHelicopter, even if it appears to be so in the image. For it has a duty, and a long mission still ahead. Say, hasta la vista lil'sis!
New location for #Perseverance on Sol 1136, RMC 52.0606. If all goes smoothly, in two more similar drives the rover will be entering the field-of-view of #Ingenuity's RTE color camera, and Perseverance's team will have their last and only opportunity to have a picture of the rover captured from the ground of Mars, at least for the foreseeable future.
#Perseverance zoomed in on what appears to be the path forward on its way to Bright Angel. That area at the center where slope increases is approximately where the rover will enter the field-of-view of #Ingenuity's RTE camera, about 150m W from its current location.
Map follows
Processed, leveled MCZ_LEFT, FL: 79mm
looking W (272°) from RMC 52.0400
Sol 1135, LMST: 07:21:50
What's really exciting about the drive down the slope of the Neretva riverbank is that at some point along the way, maybe within a week or two from now, the rover will be visible by #Ingenuity's RTE camera, at the top right corner of an RTE image, as seen in this graphic by @stim3on where I marked a possible appearance with "future Perseverance".
#Perseverance is on the move again, and this time it's made its plan unambiguous: onward to Bright Angel!
Here starts a torturous trek down the ancient Neretva riverbank, to be followed by a crossing of the sandy and flat(ter) riverbed, and finally the arrival at Bright Angel, maybe by late summer.
#Ingenuity is visible, and will be so all the way down to the riverbed.