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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter view of Schiaparelli landing site

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter view of Schiaparelli landing site


Date: 21 October 2016
Satellite: Schiaparelli
Depicts: Landing site
Copyright: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

A pair of before-and-after images taken by the Context Camera (CTX) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on 29 May 2016 and 20 October 2016 show two new features appearing following the arrival of the Schiaparelli test lander module on 19 October.

One of the features is bright and can be associated with the 12-m diameter parachute used in the second stage of Schiaparelli's descent, after the initial heat shield entry. The parachute and the associated back shield were released from Schiaparelli prior to the final phase, during which its nine thrusters should have slowed it to a standstill just above the surface.

The other new feature is a fuzzy dark patch roughly 15 × 40 metres in size and about 1 km north of the parachute. This is interpreted as arising from the impact of the Schiaparelli module itself following a much longer free fall than planned, after the thrusters were switched off prematurely.

The main image covers an area about 4 kilometres wide, at about 2 degrees south latitude, 354 degrees east longitude, in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. The scale bars are in metres. North is up.

Last Update: 1 September 2019
19-Mar-2024 09:58 UT

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