Printable Version of Topic

Click here to view this topic in its original format

Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Phoenix _ Phoenix parachute

Posted by: Phil Stooke May 27 2014, 03:30 PM

Big news from Phoenix-land.

The latest released image of the landing site shows a big change in the parachute since landing. There are lots of images of this site, so a time-series set could be very interesting.

Here's a comparison - the left side is a figure from my future book, showing the parachute just after landing. the right side is the newest image taken in February 2014. The parachute has clearly moved very considerably - surely there is no other possible explanation for this? And I wonder if it didn't pull the backshell enough to tip it over, because that looks different as well.

I will search back in time to try to find when this happened, but I probably can't put much time into it.

Phil

Posted by: djellison May 27 2014, 03:41 PM

NICE FIND (especially as the HiRISE team didn't use the word Phoenix in the observation title! ) As some of you know - watching parachutes in HiRISE is something of a personal obsession. Spirit's flapped around once and hasn't moved since. Still waiting for follow up images with Opportunity. But I hadn't thought to look at the Phoenix chute. Now on my to-do list!

Posted by: Phil Stooke May 27 2014, 07:41 PM

Right... HiRISE team did not use Phoenix in the title. If you only search on Phoenix you won't find anything like all the images. I prefer to use this site:

http://themis.asu.edu/maps

- choose HiRISE, zoom in on the area of interest, get image info, and it will identify LOTS of images. When I choose one off that list I just copy the image number and paste it into the address bar on the HiRISE site to get to that specific image.

Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke May 27 2014, 08:46 PM

A quick look suggests to me that the change happened between June 2010 and April 2012.

Phil

Posted by: djellison May 27 2014, 09:03 PM

Previously I'd only been able to track it during '08 when there were subtle changes ( bits folding over etc ) twice in October '08 and once between then and December.

Posted by: Phil Stooke May 19 2016, 06:15 AM

Here's a 2014 image of the Phoenix parachute, with a comparison to the 2012 appearance above it. There is a bit more movement but not a big change. This is rotated so north is at the top. If you save the file the HiRISE image number is in the filename.

Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke May 19 2016, 06:18 AM

Also - though it's not the parachute, it doesn't seem useful to resurrect another old thread - here is the 2014 image of the lander, compared with its brand new appearance. I interpret it to mean that the lander body is still standing but both solar panels have broken off - they don't cast shadows.

Phil

Posted by: elakdawalla May 19 2016, 06:05 PM

Poor Phoenix

Posted by: Phil Stooke May 20 2016, 06:08 PM

It took a while to find Phoenix in the most recent image, but here is a composite showing the parachute only 6 months ago, with the other two images as well.

Phil

Posted by: Phil Stooke May 20 2016, 06:17 PM

And the lander with the latest view.

Phil

Posted by: nprev May 20 2016, 07:24 PM

Wow. Fascinating to watch this over the seasons. I wonder how long it will take for the hardware to become completely indistinguishable from the surroundings.