Ingenuity captured this photo with its RTE (Return To Earth) color camera on Flight 49 which occurred on Sol-752 (April 2, 2023). James Sorenson did some extra processing to this picture to set the framing as well as color balance it to better approximate what the scene would really look like as if someone were flying with Ingenuity at an altitude of 16 meters (52 feet) off the ground.
Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/James Sorenson
I just checked the image server and the helicopter has returned over 8,000 images, and there are hundreds more still on the helicopter
RTE: 419 NavCam: 7952 Total: 8371
I think you’re still using Earth’s atmosphere (and gravity) for what you have in mind. For one, you only need and airfield to land if you ever intend to land. We already have fixed with aircraft that can fly continuously for 90 days at a time. Mars gravity is only about 1/3 of Earth’s which helps, but it also has a much lower density atmosphere which hurts. Second, you only need an airfield to take off, if you’re already on the ground.
Perhaps one far future approach is to build a fixed wing aircraft that would fly continuously, and could perhaps deploy its wings during descent into Martian atmosphere on arrival negating the need for it to ever touch the ground as part its mission.
NASA developed such a Mars plane many years ago, they even tested its wings being deployed in Earths upper atmosphere, but further development was halted.
I’m sure there is a good amount of science one could do with a fixed wing plane in continuous operation, but unless it deploys instruments onto the surface, data gathering would have its limits. Even so I would love to see it fly :)