Images show ESA Marslander Schiaparelli likely crashed
Space agency ESA has published images of the site where Marslander Schiaparelli landed. The images probably show the parachute and next to it a black dot measuring fifteen by forty meters. It is almost certain that the lander crashed.
The photos have a low resolution of six meters per pixel, but because a photo was taken before landing and after, there are differences. The photo taken after the landing shows a white dot and its dimensions correspond to the parachute attached to the Marslander during the second phase of the descent, according to ESA.
About a kilometer away, a fuzzy black dot can be seen, the size of which corresponds to an area of about 15x40m, the space agency says. Presumably this is where the Marslander landed and the black spot is said to be “disturbed surface material” from the impact.
ESA believes that Schiaparelli free-fall from two to four kilometers and landed on the red planet at a speed of more than 300 km/h. The space agency is keeping open the possibility that the lander exploded after its descent. Images with a higher resolution are expected next week and then conclusions can be drawn.
The landing took place partly with a parachute, but the last part had to slow down Schiaparelli with his thrusters. The data obtained by ESA from the descent indicated that the thrusters’ operation deviated from the simulations. During the landing, ESA lost contact with Schiaparelli, fifty seconds before the Marslander was scheduled to set foot.
Although the Marslander is most likely lost, the ESA calls the mission a success. The organization was able to collect data during the landing and the Trace Gas Orbiter was successfully launched into orbit. That probe is to serve as a communication platform between the Mars lander and Earth. Schiaparelli was the first of two Mars landers sent by the ESA to Mars and served primarily as a test for the mobile Mars rover, which the space agency plans to bring to the planet in 2018 with the second ExoMars mission.
On the left the landing site for the landing. Right after landing, with a white dot below and a black spot above.
The white dot is probably the parachute, the black spot the place where Schiaparelli hit.