Camera on Mars Orbiter Snaps Phoenix During Landing

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-083 May 26, 2008

Camera on Mars Orbiter Snaps Phoenix During Landing

PASADENA, Calif. -- A telescopic camera in orbit around Mars caught a view of NASA's Phoenix
Mars Lander suspended from its parachute during the lander's successful arrival at Mars Sunday
evening, May 25.

The image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter marks the first time ever one spacecraft has photographed another one in the
act of landing on Mars.

Meanwhile, scientists pored over initial images from Phoenix, the first ever taken from the surface of
Mars' polar regions. Phoenix returned information that it was in good health after its first night on
Mars, and the Phoenix team sent the spacecraft its to-do list for the day.

"We can see cracks in the troughs that make us think the ice is still modifying the surface," said
Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. "We see fresh
cracks. Cracks can't be old. They would fill in."

Camera pointing for the image from HiRISE used navigational information about Phoenix updated on
landing day. The camera team and Phoenix team would not know until the image was sent to Earth
whether it had actually caught Phoenix.

"We saw a few other bright spots in the image first, but when we saw the parachute and the lander
with the cords connecting them, there was no question," said HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred
McEwen, also of the University of Arizona.

"I'm floored. I'm absolutely floored," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. A team analyzing what can be learned from the Phoenix
descent through the Martian atmosphere will use the image to reconstruct events.

HiRISE usually points downward. For this image, the pointing was at 62 degrees, nearly two-thirds
of the way from straight down to horizontal. To tilt the camera, the whole orbiter must tilt. Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter was already pointed toward the expected descent path of Phoenix to record
radio transmissions from Phoenix.

McEwen said, "We've never taken an image at such an oblique angle before."

Monday's tasks for Phoenix include checkouts of some instruments and systems, plus additional
imaging of the lander's surroundings.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at JPL
and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the
Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen
and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For
more about Phoenix, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix .

JPL manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission for NASA. Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
Denver, Colo., is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The University of
Arizona operates the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which was built by Ball
Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=cdKOIVMsHfLJLYI&s=ddJOKMNlF9KAKLPrHnG&m=ouJ1K9NSJhJ1H