Room 223 Grote Hall
Department of Physics, Geology, and Astronomy
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Ave .Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598
Tel: 423-425-4404 (Physics Office leave message) Office phone:423-425-4523

Email Me: Harold-Climer@utc.edu
 

Office Hours: according to the schedule (on my office door) or by appointment
 

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 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.

 

Curiosity Spotted on Parachute by Orbiter #2

 

 

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.



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

 

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.

Locations of various parts of Curiosity at the landing site on the surface of Mars.

 

 

COLOR PANORAMA OF MARS FROM NASA

SPIRIT

MARS LANDER

 

 

Cassini meets Phoebe

Battered by impacts large and small, Saturn's distant moon Phoebe is some 230 kilometers (145 miles) wide, about the length of the state of New Jersey. The small bright patches may be fresh ice exposed by relatively recent impacts. NASA's Cassini craft caught this image (acually a composite of two) on June 11th. Full-resolution images and more information. Courtesy NASA / JPL.


Planetary scientists, ecstatic over their first closeup views of Saturn's moon Phoebe, suspect that it is mostly ice overlain with a thin layer of darker material. The large, sharply-defined crater (relatively young) shows two or more layers of alternating light and dark matter just below its rim. Full-resolution images and more information. Courtesy NASA / JPL.

 
Cassini took this closeup of a 13-kilometer (8-mile) crater and its surroundings near the time of closest approach. The boulders inside it range from 50 to 300 meters (160 to 1,000 feet) across. They may have been excavated by large impacts elsewhere on Phoebe before coming to rest here. Full-resolution image and more information. Courtesy NASA / JPL 

 ABOUT ME

          Flight Simulators
     Microsoft flight simulator
           FlightSim.com ( Lots of stuff for Flight Simulators)

         MAPLE
     MapleSoft Main Web Page
     Maple Application Center
 

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