logo
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 4 of 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
SIX minutes to Mars!
Three days before arriving at Mars on 19 October, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will release its entry, descent and landing demonstrator, Schiaparelli , towards the Red Planet. This video covers the landing and orbital manoeuvres, including the use of aerobraking - which ESA is using for the first time at Mars.

Sponsored Post Advertisement
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
NASA’s Opportunity rover explores Spirit Mound after descending down Marathon Valley, and looks out across the floor of vast Endeavour crater. This photo mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 4505 (25 Sept 2016) and colorized. (A Sol is a Martian day.)

Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/ Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

Opportunity was expected to last 90 Sols on Mars, but has so far been there 50 times longer than that. And there's more to come. Another mission extension is sending the rover to "an ancient gully where life giving liquid water almost certainly once flowed on our solar systems most Earth-like planet."

Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,113
Likes: 52
A
Chimpanzee
Online Content
Chimpanzee
A
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,113
Likes: 52
WOW, it's like you are standing right there. What a photo.

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
So far mixed news for ESA's ExoMars mission.

The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) was successfully inserted into its correct orbit. Unfortunately the fate of the Schiaparelli lander is still unknown. It was successfully tracked to just above its final destination when the signal was lost. They don't yet know whether the landing was successful or not.

Let's hope tomorrow brings more good news for the mission. smile

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
The latest news from ExoMars is pretty much that there isn't any. The orbiter is orbiting, which is good. But there's still no sign of the lander Schiaparelli which was supposed to land like this. All went well in the descent until the actual touchdown when the signal was lost.

Thierry Blancquaert, manager of the European Space Agency's Schiaparelli lander, said,
Quote:
The lander touched down, that is certain. Whether it landed intact, whether it hit a rock or a crater or whether it simply cannot communicate, that I don't know.

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has imaged Schiaparelli's landing site and it's most probable that the lander crashed and was destroyed. The dark patch and white spot magnified on the right of the photograph are likely the impact site and parachute

Data transmitted from the probe before it lost contact indicated that its descent systems did not work properly. Its parachute was jettisoned too early and its retrorockets, designed to slow the robot to a hover just above the surface, fired only for a few seconds. They should have operated for half a minute.

A sad outcome, but these things are always tricky.

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
Here is an unusual view of the Earth and the Moon.

What's unusual - and why it's in a thread about Mars - is that it's combined from two images acquired in November by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (The brightness was adjusted separately for Earth and the moon to show details on both bodies.) The pictures were taken for calibration purposes.

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

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
An image of the mouth of the mouth of Kasei Valles is color-coded. White and red represent the highest terrain and blue the lowest.

The Kasei Valles channel system extends around 3000 km from its source region in Echus Chasma – which lies east of the bulging volcanic region Tharsis and just north of the Valles Marineris canyon system – to its sink in the vast plains of Chryse Planitia.

Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
Here is Arsia Mons, one of the largest shield volcanoes on Mars. It's located on the Tharsis plateau, whose elevation is twice that of the Tibetan Plateau on Earth. NASA reports that new research indicates that it
Quote:
produced one new lava flow at its summit every 1 to 3 million years during the final peak of activity. The last volcanic activity there ceased about 50 million years ago.


Image Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS (Viking 1 orbiter)

Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 16,487
N
Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
Offline
Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
N
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 16,487
Fantastic! Every single pictures taken out of Earth always amaze me!

Page 4 of 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Moderated by  Mona - Astronomy 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Brand New Posts
Make It Sew Easier
by Cheryl - Sewing Editor - 03/27/24 04:34 PM
2024 - on this day in the past ...
by Mona - Astronomy - 03/27/24 01:31 PM
Planner Template Kit - Weekly Layout Template
by Digital Art and Animation - 03/26/24 07:39 PM
Planner Template Kit - Yearly Layout Template
by Digital Art and Animation - 03/26/24 07:37 PM
How to Use Digital Planner Template Kit
by Digital Art and Animation - 03/26/24 07:36 PM
Review - 20 Illustrator Color tips Helen Bradley
by Digital Art and Animation - 03/26/24 07:32 PM
March Equinox to June Solstice
by Mona - Astronomy - 03/26/24 12:27 PM
Hobotrader unleashes never seen opportunity with i
by Jamal molla - 03/26/24 11:55 AM
Psalm for the day
by Angie - 03/25/24 09:05 AM
Genealogy, Sort of
by Angie - 03/24/24 05:39 PM
Sponsor
Safety
We take forum safety very seriously here at BellaOnline. Please be sure to read through our Forum Guidelines. Let us know if you have any questions or comments!
Privacy
This forum uses cookies to ensure smooth navigation from page to page of a thread. If you choose to register and provide your email, that email is solely used to get your password to you and updates on any topics you choose to watch. Nothing else. Ask with any questions!


| About BellaOnline | Privacy Policy | Advertising | Become an Editor |
Website copyright © 2022 Minerva WebWorks LLC. All rights reserved.


Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5