UA's HiRISE Captures Image of Phoenix Lander's Descent

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UA's HiRISE Captures Image of Phoenix Lander's Descent

The HiRISE image of the lander and parachute. (Photo by: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

It's the first time that a spacecraft has imaged the descent of another spacecraft onto a planetary body.

By Lori Stiles, University Communications
May 26, 2008

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, run from The University of Arizona, made history just before NASA's Phoenix Lander, run at the UA, touched down yesterday.

The HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the lander hanging from its parachute during its descent through the Martian atmosphere.

"This is really unique – it's on my top 10 favorites list," said HiRISE principal investigator Alfred McEwen of the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. "This is the first time that a spacecraft has actually imaged the descent of another spacecraft onto a planetary body."

The biggest surprise for him, McEwen said, is that the very thin cords connecting the lander to the parachute are visible in the image.

MRO was about 760 kilometers, or 475 miles, away from the Phoenix spacecraft when it pointed the HiRISE camera obliquely towards the Phoenix Lander. HiRISE was viewing at an angle 26 degrees above the horizon, through Mars' hazy atmosphere, when it took the image at 4:36 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time as the lander was descending through the Martian atmosphere.

The stunning image reveals the parachute – about 10 meters, or 30 feet, wide – fully inflated. The bright pixels below the parachute is the aeroshell with the Phoenix lander still tucked inside. The cords that attach the aeroshell and the parachute are faintly visible.

The parachute and aeroshell appear bright against the darker, but fully illuminated Martian surface.

"The picture is awesome," Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith said.

"This is a spectacular image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, an engineer's delight," Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein of JPL said. "I was skeptical if this (image) was possible. I tip my hat to the MRO team and congratulate the HiRISE team."

HiRISE data will be used to reconstruct entry-descent-landing events, Goldstein said.

McEwen's team is already searching another HiRISE image for the landed Phoenix and its parachute, heatshield and backshell on the ground. McEwen said his team plans to take two more HiRISE images of the landing area in the next few days, including a stereo view that will give the Phoenix mission scientists the context of where they will be digging.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, based in Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo., built the HiRISE camera, which is operated by the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.