Posted on 01/11/2007 9:25:05 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES
The newest spacecraft circling Mars has spotted the landing site of the 1997 Pathfinder probe including what appears to be its discarded protective backshell and parachute lying on the surface, and possibly its little rover Sojourner.
The bird's-eye view beamed back by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter should give scientists a better idea of the Pathfinder lander's descent and the mission's last days.
In one of the high-resolution images taken last month, Pathfinder's mobile sidekick Sojourner appeared to have rolled closer to the stationary lander, which sent its last transmission 12 weeks after landing.
Scientists were able to discern the lander's ramps and airbags as well as bright features that look like portions of its heat shield. The parachute and backshell used by Pathfinder during landing lie to the south behind a hill.
"The new image provides information about Pathfinder's landing and should help confirm our reconstruction of the descent," Rob Manning, Mars program chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement.
The Pathfinder site was previously photographed from space by other craft, but the MRO, which entered orbit last year, sent the most detailed yet.
Pathfinder captivated a worldwide television audience when it bounced to an Independence Day landing in 1997.
The mission, which lasted far longer than its planned lifetime of a month, was considered a success. The lander beamed back images of the rocky Martian terrain and made atmospheric measurements while the little rover analyzed soil samplings.
Pathfinder sent its last transmission in September 1997. Scientists believe it might have suffered from temperature-related problems as a result of battery failure.
The airbag landing technique used by Pathfinder was also used by the twin NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which are operating on the planet. Unlike Pathfinder, the latter rovers' landing platforms did not function as base stations.
On the Net:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro
NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and continued operating until Sept. 27 of that year. The landing site is on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image on Dec. 21, 2006, that provides unprecedented detail of the geology of the region and hardware on the surface.
Did they find the flag the astronauts left? If so, please deliver to Shelia J. Lee.
Oh, man, that's cold :-)
1997 Pathfinder
1997 Probe
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