[roc-chat] NASA - Curiosity Spotted on Parachute by Orbiter

From: Bob Brown <cineflex@xxxxxxx>
To: Roc-chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2012 20:38:05 -0700
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia15978b.html

Curiosity Spotted on Parachute by Orbiter

NASA's Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA's Mars 
Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Aug. 5 PDT 
(Aug. 6 EDT). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera 
captured this image of Curiosity while the orbiter was listening to 
transmissions from the rover. Curiosity and its parachute are in the center of 
the white box; the inset image is a cutout of the rover stretched to avoid 
saturation. The rover is descending toward the etched plains just north of the 
sand dunes that fringe "Mt. Sharp." From the perspective of the orbiter, the 
parachute and Curiosity are flying at an angle relative to the surface, so the 
landing site does not appear directly below the rover. 

The parachute appears fully inflated and performing perfectly. Details in the 
parachute, such as the band gap at the edges and the central hole, are clearly 
seen. The cords connecting the parachute to the back shell cannot be seen, 
although they were seen in the image of NASA's Phoenix lander descending, 
perhaps due to the difference in lighting angles. The bright spot on the back 
shell containing Curiosity might be a specular reflection off of a shiny area. 
Curiosity was released from the back shell sometime after this image was 
acquired. 

This view is one product from an observation made by HiRISE targeted to the 
expected location of Curiosity about one minute prior to landing. It was 
captured in HiRISE CCD RED1, near the eastern edge of the swath width (there is 
a RED0 at the very edge). This means that the rover was a bit further east or 
downrange than predicted. 

The image scale is 13.2 inches (33.6 centimeters) per pixel . 

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. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Bob Brown
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0113141/
http://www.tripoli.org/  #9186-L3
[roc-chat] NASA - Curiosity Spotted on Parachute by Orbiter

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