[meteorite-list] Camera on MRO Snaps Phoenix During Landing

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 13:31:23 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200805272031.NAA10588_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-083

Camera on Mars Orbiter Snaps Phoenix During Landing
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
May 26, 2008

PASADENA, Calif. -- 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."

Monday's tasks for Phoenix include checkouts of some instruments and
systems, plus additional imaging of the lander's surroundings.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with
project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed
Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space
Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of
Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the
Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix.

JPL manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission for NASA. Lockheed
Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is the prime contractor for the
project and built the spacecraft. The University of Arizona operates the
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which was built by
Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guy Webster 818-354-6278/5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond at lpl.arizona.edu

2008-083
Received on Tue 27 May 2008 04:31:23 PM PDT


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