NASA's MRO captured this image of the Curiosity rover parachuting onto Mars. (Photo: NASA / HiRISE)
While flight engineers waited nervously as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) completed its nail-biting trip to the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) hung quietly above the rover's landing site. It's primary goal, along with other nearby satellites, was to help relay updates from the Curiosity rover as it approached the planet. However, it also managed to snap this amazing photograph with its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE camera.
In orbit around Mars since 2006, the MRO's HiRISE camera has a 0.3 meter resolution from its orbit some 300 kilometers from the Martian surface. The picture it managed to capture shows the MSL, still in its protective casing and with its enormous parachute deployed.
Earlier in the week, Christian Schaller from the HiRISE team told the Universe Today .. http://www.universetoday.com/96576/hirise-camera-to-attempt-imaging-curiositys-descent-to-mars/ .. that the MRO would only have one shot at catching this historic moment on film. "The EDL (Entry, Descent and Landing) image is set up so that as MSL is descending, MRO will be slewing the HiRISE field of view across the expected descent path. The plan is to capture MSL during the parachute phase of descent."
Before the MSL entered the Martian atmosphere, it and other satellites orbiting Mars were repositioned to serve as relay stations for Curiosity's UHF signals. This meant that the MRO would already be near by, and attempting to photograph its descent was just a convenient opportunity.
In fact, the MRO managed this feat once already during the Mars Phoenix mission when it snapped a photo of the lander parachuting onto Mars.
In order to sync up efforts between the MSL and the satellites around Mars, mission planners had to relay information about the MSL's approach from the time of its launch. Using this, engineers were able to make slight adjustments to the satellites' orbits over time. Despite all the advanced notice, coordinating a photograph with the MRO's HiRISE camera would be difficult, as the optical equipment can only image a very small area at a time.
Just before the MSL entered the atmosphere, the MRO took a long exposure image to warm up the HiRISE camera to its optimal operating temperature. Then, relying on pre-scripted operations from its controllers, the MRO snapped a photo as it flew over where mission planners hoped the MSL would be flying.
The result was the image above, showing off the saucer-like descent stage but its enormous super-sonic parachute. "The parachute appears fully inflated and performing perfectly," writes Alfred McEwen on the HiRISE website. .. http://www.uahirise.org/releases/msl-descent.php .. "Details in the parachute such as the band gap at the edges and the central hole are clearly visible. The cords connecting the parachute to the backshell cannot be seen, although they were seen in the image of Phoenix descending, perhaps due to the difference in lighting angles."
The astonishing photo was taken towards the beginning of the so-called "Seven Minutes of Terror." This audacious procedure involved not only a parachute, but an ingenious rocket system which lowered the Curiosity rover by cable to the surface of the planet in what was called the "Skycrane Maneuver." The parachute deployed by the MSL is the largest ever used outside of the Moon-Earth system, and is clearly visible in the HiRISE image.
Though scale is difficult to discern in the image, the parachute is 51 feet in diameter and 16 stories tall.
India has successfully launched its first ever mission to Mars in a bid to become the first Asian nation to reach the Red Planet.
The Mars Orbiter Mission's rocket blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the country's east coast on Tuesday and is scheduled to orbit Mars by September next year.
India launches its space mission to Mars. AFP /NDTV/DOORDARSHAN
If the satellite orbits the Red Planet, India's space agency will become the fourth in the world after those of the US, Russia and Europe to undertake a successful Mars mission.
In order for the rocket to embark on the right trajectory for its 300-day, 780-million km journey, it must carry out its final orbital burn by 30 November.
The head of India's space agency told the BBC the mission would demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit and carry out experiments.
Some observers are viewing the launch as the latest salvo in a burgeoning space race between the Asian powers of India, China, Japan, South Korea and others.
Prof Andrew Coates, from the UK's Mullard Space Science Laboratory, told the BBC: "I think this mission really brings India to the table of international space exploration. Interplanetary exploration is certainly not trivial to do, and [India] has found some interesting scientific niches to make some measurements in."
Those niche areas include searching for the signature of methane (CH4) in the Martian atmosphere, which has previously been detected from Martian orbit and telescopes on Earth.
Nasa's Curiosity rover recently failed to find the gas in its measurements of atmospheric gases.
Methane has a short lifetime in the Martian atmosphere, meaning that some source on the Red Planet must replenish it.
The spacecraft's Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) instrument will aim to make measurements and map any potential sources of methane "plumes". The spacecraft will also examine the rate of loss of atmospheric gases to outer space which could provide insights into the planet's history.
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