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Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona |
The four main pieces of hardware that arrived on Mars with NASA's
Curiosity rover were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
(MRO). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera
captured this image about 24 hours after landing. The large,
reduced-scale image points out the strewn hardware: the heat shield was
the first piece to hit the ground, followed by the back shell attached
to the parachute, then the rover itself touched down, and finally, after cables were cut, the sky crane flew away to the
northwest and crashed. Relatively dark areas in all four spots are from
disturbances of the bright dust on Mars, revealing the darker material
below the surface dust.
Around the rover, this disturbance was from the sky crane thrusters, and forms a bilaterally symmetrical pattern. The darkened radial jets from the sky crane are downrange from the point of oblique impact, much like the oblique impacts of asteroids. In fact, they make an arrow pointing to Curiosity.
This image was acquired from a special 41-degree roll of MRO, larger than the normal 30-degree limit. It rolled towards the west and towards the sun, which increases visible scattering by atmospheric dust as well as the amount of atmosphere the orbiter has to look through, thereby reducing the contrast of surface features. Future images will show the hardware in greater detail. Our view is tilted about 45 degrees from the surface (more than the 41-degree roll due to planetary curvature), like a view out of an airplane window. Tilt the mages 90 degrees clockwise to see the surface better from this perspective. The views are primarily of the shadowed side of the rover and other objects.
The image scale is 39 centimeters (15.3 inches) per pixel.
Complete HiRISE image products are available at: http://uahirise.org/releases/msl-descent.php.
HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.
Around the rover, this disturbance was from the sky crane thrusters, and forms a bilaterally symmetrical pattern. The darkened radial jets from the sky crane are downrange from the point of oblique impact, much like the oblique impacts of asteroids. In fact, they make an arrow pointing to Curiosity.
This image was acquired from a special 41-degree roll of MRO, larger than the normal 30-degree limit. It rolled towards the west and towards the sun, which increases visible scattering by atmospheric dust as well as the amount of atmosphere the orbiter has to look through, thereby reducing the contrast of surface features. Future images will show the hardware in greater detail. Our view is tilted about 45 degrees from the surface (more than the 41-degree roll due to planetary curvature), like a view out of an airplane window. Tilt the mages 90 degrees clockwise to see the surface better from this perspective. The views are primarily of the shadowed side of the rover and other objects.
The image scale is 39 centimeters (15.3 inches) per pixel.
Complete HiRISE image products are available at: http://uahirise.org/releases/msl-descent.php.
HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona |
This close-up view shows the rover Curiosity's parachute and back shell
strewn across the surface of Mars. The image was captured by the
High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter about 24 hours after the parachute helped
guide the rover to the surface. When the back shell impacted the ground,
bright dust was kicked up, exposing darker material underneath. This image was acquired from a special 41-degree roll of MRO, larger
than the normal 30-degree limit. It rolled towards the west and towards
the sun, which increases visible scattering by atmospheric dust as well
as the amount of atmosphere the orbiter has to look through, thereby
reducing the contrast of surface features. Future images will show the
hardware in greater detail. Our view is tilted about 45 degrees from the
surface (more than the 41-degree roll due to planetary curvature), like
a view out of an airplane window. Tilt the images 90 degrees clockwise to see the
surface better from this perspective. The views are primarily of the
shadowed side of the rover and other objects.
The image scale is 39 centimeters (15.3 inches) per pixel.
The image scale is 39 centimeters (15.3 inches) per pixel.
This close-up view shows darkened radial jets caused by the impact of Curiosity's sky crane, which helped deliver the rover to the surface of Mars. The image was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter about 24 hours after landing.
The radial jets from the impact are much like those from asteroids that hit the planetary surface at oblique angles. In fact, these scour marks make an arrow pointing to Curiosity. As the sky crane hit the surface, bright dust was kicked up, exposing darker material underneath.
This image was acquired from a special 41-degree roll of MRO, larger than the normal 30-degree limit. It rolled towards the west and towards the sun, which increases visible scattering by atmospheric dust as well as the amount of atmosphere the orbiter has to look through, thereby reducing the contrast of surface features. Future images will show the hardware in greater detail. Our view is tilted about 45 degrees from the surface (more than the 41-degree roll due to planetary curvature), like a view out of an airplane window. Tilt the images 90 degrees clockwise to see the surface better from this perspective. The views are primarily of the shadowed side of the rover and other objects.
The image scale is 39 centimeters (15.3 inches) per pixel.
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| Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona |
This close-up view shows Curiosity's heat shield, which helped the rover
survive the harrowing journey through the Martian atmosphere, on the
surface of Mars. The image was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging
Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
about 24 hours after landing. When the object hit the ground, bright
dust at the surface was churned up, exposing darker material underneath.
This image was acquired from a special 41-degree roll of MRO, larger than the normal 30-degree limit. It rolled towards the west and towards the sun, which increases visible scattering by atmospheric dust as well as the amount of atmosphere the orbiter has to look through, thereby reducing the contrast of surface features. Future images will show the hardware in greater detail. Our view is tilted about 45 degrees from the surface (more than the 41-degree roll due to planetary curvature), like a view out of an airplane window. Tilt the images 90 degrees clockwise to see the surface better from this perspective. The views are primarily of the shadowed side of the rover and other objects.
The image scale is 39 centimeters (15.3 inches) per pixel
This image was acquired from a special 41-degree roll of MRO, larger than the normal 30-degree limit. It rolled towards the west and towards the sun, which increases visible scattering by atmospheric dust as well as the amount of atmosphere the orbiter has to look through, thereby reducing the contrast of surface features. Future images will show the hardware in greater detail. Our view is tilted about 45 degrees from the surface (more than the 41-degree roll due to planetary curvature), like a view out of an airplane window. Tilt the images 90 degrees clockwise to see the surface better from this perspective. The views are primarily of the shadowed side of the rover and other objects.
The image scale is 39 centimeters (15.3 inches) per pixel
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