File:The debris shield realeased (cropped).png

English: On March 21, 2021 (sol 30 of the Mars-2020 mission) the debris shield, a covering on the bottom of Perseverance rover which protected Ingenuity during its flight to Mars and landing, was released

Releasing the debris shield allows the helicopter to rotate down out of the rover’s belly. This image was taken by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument, located at the end of the rover’s long robotic arm.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory built and manages operations of Perseverance and Ingenuity for the agency. Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages JPL for NASA. WATSON was built by Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, and is operated jointly by MSSS and JPL.

The Mars helicopter technology demonstration activity is supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate.

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

This image was acquired on Mar. 21, 2021 (Sol 30) at the local mean solar time of 14:48:30.

Image credit: NASA/JPL