Posted on 05/26/2008 8:20:13 PM PDT by blam
Camera On Mars Orbiter Snaps Phoenix During Landing
NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander can be seen parachuting down to Mars, in this image captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona)
ScienceDaily (May 27, 2008) — A telescopic camera in orbit around Mars caught a view of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute during the lander's successful arrival at Mars Sunday evening, May 25.
The image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter marks the first time ever one spacecraft has photographed another one in the act of landing on Mars.
Meanwhile, scientists pored over initial images from Phoenix, the first ever taken from the surface of Mars' polar regions. Phoenix returned information that it was in good health after its first night on Mars, and the Phoenix team sent the spacecraft its to-do list for the day.
"We can see cracks in the troughs that make us think the ice is still modifying the surface," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. "We see fresh cracks. Cracks can't be old. They would fill in."
Camera pointing for the image from HiRISE used navigational information about Phoenix updated on landing day. The camera team and Phoenix team would not know until the image was sent to Earth whether it had actually caught Phoenix.
"We saw a few other bright spots in the image first, but when we saw the parachute and the lander with the cords connecting them, there was no question," said HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen, also of the University of Arizona.
"I'm floored. I'm absolutely floored," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. A team analyzing what can be learned from the Phoenix descent through the Martian atmosphere will use the image to reconstruct events.
HiRISE usually points downward. For this image, the pointing was at 62 degrees, nearly two-thirds of the way from straight down to horizontal. To tilt the camera, the whole orbiter must tilt. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was already pointed toward the expected descent path of Phoenix to record radio transmissions from Phoenix.
McEwen said, "We've never taken an image at such an oblique angle before."
The landing
From a distance of about 760 kilometers (472 miles) above the surface of the Red Planet, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed its HiRISE obliquely toward Phoenix shortly after it opened its parachute while descending through the Martian atmosphere. The image reveals an apparent 10-meter-wide (30-foot-wide) parachute fully inflated. The bright pixels below the parachute show a dangling Phoenix. The image faintly detects the chords attaching the backshell and parachute. The surroundings look dark, but corresponds to the fully illuminated Martian surface, which is much darker than the parachute and backshell.
Phoenix released its parachute at an altitude of about 12.6 kilometers (7.8 miles) and a velocity of 1.7 times the speed of sound.
The tasks for May 27 for Phoenix include checkouts of some instruments and systems, plus additional imaging of the lander's surroundings.
pted from materials provided by National Aeronautics And Space Administration.
bttt
Pardon me, but I do not know what the current paradigm is
for the presence of water on Mars and other questions...
1) where did it come from?
2) How long would it take to sublimate into the atmosphere?
3) Was Mars warmer long ago?
4) If Mars has 95% CO2, what would its temp be without
that greenhouse gas?
5) Where did the C02 come from?
6) Is there geothermal heat on Mars?
7) Why are all the planets so different, surely they must
have come from some homogenous planetoid material in the
past? Why didn’t the mass all settle into one or two Super planets
orbiting the Sun?
8) shouldn’t the planets rocks be similar, with the
major differences being the relative differences in heating,
and time at certain temperatures?
9) Could hexagonal shapes be due to other chemicals beside
water? What about hydrogen sulfide? or frozen C02? How about
heated magma, coming to the surface and crystallizing out?
10) Could DNA survive such a thin atmosphere with all the
X, cosmic rays, and solar ionizing radiation?
11) How much C02 escapes the atmosphere on Mars?
Are these questions answered in any astronomy textbooks?
Thanks
This is why once we micro-climate this tundra, hydroponic Mars futures will go through the roof. :)
By the way, an incredible shot!....extremely kewl...
temperature aside.
Atmospheric pressure on Mars is just one percent of Earth, but I’m not sure that means density is also one percent - the obvious question, would a parachute even work, billow out, if the density is just one percent of Earth?
Thank you, Sir!
Like the one orbiting over it that took the picture of the landing?
Just a thought.
HUMMER’s?”
Sure looks like decomposing wood to me.
But i remember NASA saying it was a rock formation.
And I’m the easter bunny. :-)
The railroad tie is very interesting. What is the bright object off in the distance?
Bright item in the distance is the Golf Ball hit by Alann Sheppard in 1971..hell of a shot...
http://starryskies.com/The_sky/events/lunar-2003/multimedia.html
Hell, I want to know who wrote the number 2 just below and to the right of the railroad tie.
Water came from the same place as on earth...formed while the planet was forming and cooling.
2) How long would it take to sublimate into the atmosphere?
Not sure. It's a long gradual process. Unfortunately, Mars' smaller mass seemed to be unable to entrap most of it.
3) Was Mars warmer long ago?
Absolutely. All the planets were.
4) If Mars has 95% CO2, what would its temp be without that greenhouse gas?
CO2 isn't a greenhouse gas according to much recent thinking. Besides, the atmosphere of Mars is very thin. Anyway presumed greenhouse effect would then be very small.
5) Where did the C02 come from?
Same place the water did.
6) Is there geothermal heat on Mars?
Possibly but not as much as Earth
7) Why are all the planets so different, surely they must have come from some homogenous planetoid material in the past? Why didn’t the mass all settle into one or two Super planets orbiting the Sun?
Great question that requires a long answer. All the planets formed from the same accretion disk but at different distances from the Sun. That meant different amounts of forces acting on them so different types of planets. http://stardate.org/resources/ssguide/planet_form.html
There are some good documentaries on Science channel.
8) shouldn’t the planets rocks be similar, with the major differences being the relative differences in heating, and time at certain temperatures?
In a way, they are. The rovers found very similar rock formations and types.
9) Could hexagonal shapes be due to other chemicals beside water? What about hydrogen sulfide? or frozen C02? How about heated magma, coming to the surface and crystallizing out?
Maybe. But water obviously does it. When you hear hoof-beats, think horses not zebras.
10) Could DNA survive such a thin atmosphere with all the X, cosmic rays, and solar ionizing radiation?
Possibly. After all, we've found dinosaur dna fragments.
11) How much C02 escapes the atmosphere on Mars?
Don't don't know but Mars is 1/3 the mass of Earth so it is easier for light gasses to escape.
Are these questions answered in any astronomy textbooks?
Probably. :-)
bump
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