[meteorite-list] Used Parachute on Mars Flaps in the Wind

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 12:30:06 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201304031930.r33JU6OS003117_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-121

Used Parachute on Mars Flaps in the Wind
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
April 03, 2013

PASADENA, Calif. - Photos from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show
how the parachute that helped NASA's Curiosity rover land on Mars last
summer has subsequently changed its shape on the ground.

The images were obtained by the High Resolution Imaging Science
Experiment (HiRISE) camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Seven images taken by HiRISE between Aug. 12, 2012, and Jan. 13, 2013,
show the used parachute shifting its shape at least twice in response to
wind.

The images in the sequence of photos are available online at
http://uahirise.org/releases/msl-chute.php and at
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/pia16813.html .

Researchers have used HiRISE to study many types of changes on Mars. Its
first image of Curiosity's parachute, not included in this series,
caught the spacecraft suspended from the chute during descent through
the Martian atmosphere.

HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson. The instrument
was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. The
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project and Curiosity are managed by NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has
been studying Mars from orbit since 2006, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

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

2013-121
Received on Wed 03 Apr 2013 03:30:06 PM PDT