Tag Archives: Meridiani Planum

Opportunity report, Sol 4540, by A.J.S. Rayl, The Planetary Society

November 5, 2016: Opportunity Scales Spirit Mound, Takes Shot at Schiaparelli: Deep in the western rim of Endeavour Crater at Cape Tribulation, Opportunity spent the month of October on Spirit Mound studying the rich yet familiar geology at the first … Continue reading

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ExoMars: Schiaparelli crash site in color

Editor note: See also HiRISE and Photojournal posts New high-resolution images taken by a NASA orbiter show parts of the ExoMars Schiaparelli module and its landing site in colour on the Red Planet. Schiaparelli arrived in the Meridiani Planum region … Continue reading

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HiRISE images the Schiaparelli crash site

[Editor note: More at the ExoMars and HiRISE sites] The most powerful telescope orbiting Mars is providing new details of the scene near the Martian equator where Europe’s Schiaparelli test lander hit the surface last week. An Oct. 25 observation … Continue reading

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ExoMars: Did computing error doom Schiaparelli?

[Editor note: Report by Elizabeth Gibney in Nature] Photos of a huge circle of churned-up Martian soil leave few doubts: a European Space Agency (ESA) probe that was supposed to test landing technology on Mars crashed into the red planet … Continue reading

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ExoMars: Video of Oct 20 Schiaparelli, TGO briefing

Video replay of ExoMars media briefing on 20 October at ESA’s Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, regarding Schiaparelli and the Trace Gas Orbiter. [Note: This briefing was held before the Schiaparelli crash site was imaged by the Context Camera on … Continue reading

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MRO spots Schiaparelli impact scar, parachute

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified new markings on the surface of the Red Planet that are believed to be related to ESA’s ExoMars Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing technology demonstrator module. Schiaparelli entered the martian atmosphere at 14:42 GMT … Continue reading

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ExoMars: TGO in orbit; lander ‘under assessment’

[ExoMars Twitter feed here] The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) of ESA’s ExoMars 2016 has successfully performed the long 139-minute burn required to be captured by Mars and entered an elliptical orbit around the Red Planet, while contact has not yet … Continue reading

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ExoMars: Signals indicate TGO in Mars orbit, Schiaparelli safe landing not confirmed

18:53 CEST: The ExoMars/TGO spacecraft completed its critical orbit-insertion manoeuvre at Mars today and its signals were received by ground stations at 18:34 CEST, just as expected. The timely re-acquisition indicates the engine burn went as planned, and mission controllers … Continue reading

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ExoMars: Live updates on arrival, landing

Updates from ESA’s space operations centre as the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter approaches and enters orbit around the Red Planet, and the Schiaparelli module lands on its surface. Red Planet Report ExoMars mission coverage here. [More at links]

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ExoMars: Technology of Mars orbit insertion

The most critical moment so far in the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter’s journey will be Wednesday’s Mars Orbit Insertion burn – the long (ca. 134 mins) engine firing that will slow the spacecraft down sufficiently to be captured into Mars … Continue reading

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