Tweet
it's own heat shield jettisoned during re-entry.
Had you goin' for a second, 'eh?
Dr. Mordrid
Had you goin' for a second, 'eh?
Mars Rover Eyes Foreign Object
Fresh from some six months of driving inside Endurance Crater, the Opportunity Mars rover now has a piece of foreign space hardware in its sights.
After successfully climbing out of the stadium-sized crater, engineers are now steering the robot toward a part of the spacecraft’s entry hardware. The discarded gear tumbled to the surface of Mars, part of the landing equipment that protected the rover from its heated plunge through Mars’ atmosphere in January.
Opportunity Mars rover is wheeling toward a discarded section of its entry, descent, and landing system.
Image link....
The rover’s trek to the nearby heat shield is on its driving trajectory this week, confirmed Guy Webster, a spokesman for the Mars rover project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
A goal of Mars scientists is to inspect the deepest, freshly dug hole known on the red planet. Meanwhile, spacecraft engineers are itching to assess just how well the heat shield withstood its fiery fall through the Martian atmosphere. Photos sent back could be helpful in designing or testing future heat shield designs.
Wheeling itself across Meridiani Planum, Opportunity remains in excellent health with its solar power meter nearly as high now as it was at the start of its Mars mission.
Fresh from some six months of driving inside Endurance Crater, the Opportunity Mars rover now has a piece of foreign space hardware in its sights.
After successfully climbing out of the stadium-sized crater, engineers are now steering the robot toward a part of the spacecraft’s entry hardware. The discarded gear tumbled to the surface of Mars, part of the landing equipment that protected the rover from its heated plunge through Mars’ atmosphere in January.
Opportunity Mars rover is wheeling toward a discarded section of its entry, descent, and landing system.
Image link....
The rover’s trek to the nearby heat shield is on its driving trajectory this week, confirmed Guy Webster, a spokesman for the Mars rover project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
A goal of Mars scientists is to inspect the deepest, freshly dug hole known on the red planet. Meanwhile, spacecraft engineers are itching to assess just how well the heat shield withstood its fiery fall through the Martian atmosphere. Photos sent back could be helpful in designing or testing future heat shield designs.
Wheeling itself across Meridiani Planum, Opportunity remains in excellent health with its solar power meter nearly as high now as it was at the start of its Mars mission.
Comment