Posted on 10/24/2016 9:38:14 PM PDT by aquila48
Europe's ExoMars lander apparently crashed on the Red Planet, and an orbiting NASA spacecraft has spotted its grave, European Space Agency (ESA) officials said. The lander, named Schiaparelli, stopped communicating with mission control about 1 minute before its planned touchdown on Mars Wednesday morning (Oct. 19). Newly released photos of the landing site by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) seem to confirm what ExoMars team members had suspected — that Schiaparelli died a violent death.
The photos show a bright feature consistent with the lander's 39-foot-wide (12 meters) parachute, as well as a 50-by-130-foot (15 by 40 m) dark patch likely created by the lander's impact, ESA officials said.
"Estimates are that Schiaparelli dropped from a height of between 2 and 4 kilometers [1.2 to 2.5 miles], therefore impacting at a considerable speed, greater than 300 km/h [186 mph]," ESA officials wrote in an update today (Oct. 21).
"The relatively large size of the feature would then arise from disturbed surface material," they added. "It is also possible that the lander exploded on impact, as its thruster propellant tanks were likely still full. These preliminary interpretations will be refined following further analysis."
ExoMars team members think those tanks were still full because Schiaparelli's data indicate that the lander didn't fire its descent-slowing thrusters nearly as long as it was supposed to, ESA officials have said. MRO took the photos with its relatively low-resolution CTX camera. The orbiter will image the crash site with its sharper High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera next week, ESA officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
That sucks. But it arrived nonetheless.
Would make sense to send out multiple landers each with the capability of learning from each other. Hell, it should be done continuously — on monthly intervals. Where to get the money? Take from the Global Warming/Cooling fund.
USA 6 MARS LANDINGS SUCCESS. REST OF WORLD 0.
Doh!
:)
I hate it when my thruster shuts off prematurely.
Has fewer commercials than that awful space.com one.
The aliens really hate us earthlings poking around their turf...
They did not have muzzie outreach program,did they?
Apollo legacy, I would presume. How long can that last? Quo Vadis?
Opportunity may have photographed Schiaparelli’s entry into the Martian atmosphere.
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/did-opportunity-see-schiaparelli/
They will have better pictures next week.
There is a better camera on the orbiter they will use to image the crash site.
Phhhhht! This is why you Brexit!!!
They can’t even wire cars.
And you thought you were joking!
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/science/nasa-praises-uae-mars-mission
Well, no it didn't. It crashed. If it had arrived, it would be there, you see.
We all arrive to our graveyards, no?
NASA found the grave? Who dug the grave? Is this finally proof that there are Martians?
It dug its own grave.
We should send Opportunity over the crash site to send back some hi-res photos and maybe hold up a piece of the wreckage for the camera.
I would say no. That's nothing to do with us, at that point. The more challenging comparison would be of astronauts "arriving" on Mars, or another body, by a fatal crash. I will stick to my point and say this is not an arrival, again for the same reason, they aren't there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.