Several years ago, specifically in February 2021, the rover perseverance He arrived on Mars to launch one of NASA’s most ambitious tasks in recent decades. A task, which will continue throughout this decade and part of the next, through which the SUV will try to find signs of life on the red planet. For it, perseverance It landed on the Jezero crater, from which all kinds of information about the red planet has been collected in recent months through the different stones on the extraterrestrial surface.
But not only that. During these last years, NASA has also been able to take all kinds of aerial photographs thanks to its small helicopter. ingenuity. Despite the fact that at first he was predestined to fly over the surface of Mars a maximum of five times, the so-called ingenuity It has come to complete a total of 54 missions on the surface of Mars. A feat that has allowed him to surpass himself as the mission progressed and that has helped us learn more about the red planet.
Ingenuity flight number 54
Just a few days ago, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) reported that ingenuity He had successfully made his 53rd flight since arriving on Mars. On this occasion, the small helicopter covered a distance of 143 meters in a journey of one minute and 15 seconds. Several days later, on August 3, the ingenuity He flew again at a height of five meters for 24.4 seconds to add one more flight behind him. As a result of these two flights, the space agency has shared several photos of the red planet in which we can enjoy a hitherto unprecedented perspective on the red planet.
In these images we can see the helicopter flying over the red planet while the Perseverance rover waits for its partner to return to the base of the vehicle. A procedure that has been repeated since April 2021, when they made the first flight in history from the red planet. Since then, the helicopter has spent 95.5 minutes in the air covering 12.2 kilometers of distance and reaching altitudes of up to 18 meters. However, despite the fact that it is a true space landmark, these images have ended up going viral due to all the memes they have generated on the Internet.
The networks are filled with memes after the last flight of Ingenuity
Beyond noticing the little rover, the X community (formerly known as Twitter) has taken notice that Mars is a complete desert. A place as arid as possible that has led many to joke about these images and their true origin. While some claim that it is an image of Lanzarote or Fuerteventura, others believe that these images could have been taken on any bus trip from Madrid to Zaragoza.
On the other hand, there are also those who joke that they could be some photographs taken in Castilla-La Mancha one summer, of the Monegros desert or even of the venue that Mad Cool will choose for next year’s concerts. There are also those who have compared the NASA images with any that can be taken from a Renfe stop in Alicante or who joke that the helicopter always takes photos of the desert and never of the cities of Mars.