NASA's rover photographed a broken helicopter on the surface of Mars

NASA's Mars rover named Perseverance has snapped a new photograph of the Mars helicopter situated on the desolate Red Planet.

3

The helicopter named Ingenuity landed on Mars with Perseverance in February 2021, and during its active time, the 4-pound helicopter served as a reconnaissance drone for Perseverance as it was sent ahead of the rover to collect data on the upcoming terrain and any potential scientific prospects that warranted further inspection by the rover. Ingenuity flew 72 separate times while active on the Red Planet, and on January 18, it endured catastrophic damage through a hard landing.

Following the January 18 flight, NASA confirmed that a piece of at least one of Ingenuity's rotor blades had broken off - this was confirmed by a selfie image snapped by Ingenuity. This damage forced NASA to retire Ingenuity and nickname the location where it now sits Valinor Hills, a reference to J.R.R Tolkien's Valinor, a heaven-like place in Middle-Earth where elves and some hobbits return to following the destruction of the One Ring.

3

Now, Perseverance's new photos shed more light on the damage Ingenuity sustained during its hard landing. Using the Mars rover's SuperCam remote imager, it was revealed at least one of Ingenuity's four rotor blades snapped completely off the helicopter.

• Read more: NASA honors its dead Mars helicopter with a special name from Tolkien's legendarium
• Read more: NASA zooms in on the final resting place for its dead Mars helicopter
• Read more: PlayStation 5 Pro specifications have been shared with third-party publishers, says insider