Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Artist’s impression of Schiaparelli, the ExoMars entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, as it approaches the Martian surface.
Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

What occurred during yesterday’s attempted landing of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ExoMars 2016 Schiaparelli lander is under analysis by experts.

Perhaps offering new insight on the apparent mishap at Mars – NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the Opportunity rover.

Detailed telemetry

The lander was dispatched from the now safely orbiting Mars mothership, ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter.

Artist’s impression depicts Europe’s ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter and separation of the entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, named Schiaparelli.
Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

But something happened during Schiaparelli’s descent. Signals recorded by both Earth-based assets and Europe’s Mars Express orbiter stopped shortly before the module was expected to make a soft touchdown on the Red Planet.

Detailed telemetry recorded by the Trace Gas Orbiter from Schiaparelli during its plunge to the planet has been partially analyzed.

Credit: ESA

What’s known?

That evaluation confirms that the Schiaparelli entry and descent stages occurred as expected, with events diverging from what was expected after the ejection of the back heat shield and parachute. This ejection itself appears to have occurred earlier than expected, but analysis is not yet complete, according to an ESA statement.

Furthermore, the Schiaparelli thrusters were confirmed to have been briefly activated “although it seems likely that they switched off sooner than expected, at an altitude that is still to be determined,” adds the ESA statement.

On patrol – NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) can image the whereabouts and condition of ESA’s Schiaparelli lander.
Credit: NASA/JPL

NASA assets

To help piece together what took place over Mars – and the true condition of Schiaparelli – two NASA assets can play a role.

One of those is NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its super-powerful camera system. Another on-the-ground asset is the Opportunity rover. Although a literal long-shot, the robot explorer did take images of the expected entry of the ESA lander.

Opportunity rover’s current location at Spirit Mound. Did it catch the Schiaparelli sky show?
Courtesy: James Rice/MER/JPL

Ground imagery

“Coordinated release with ESA is planned for any of these observations — by MRO or Opportunity — that show Schiaparelli, said Guy Webster, a Jet Propulsion Laboratory spokesman. “The Opportunity raw images go public as soon as they get to Earth, of course,” he told Inside Outer Space.

“Observations by MRO of various portions of the Schiaparelli landing ellipse have been planned during the two weeks after the landing, into early November, seeking to image the lander,” Webster said.

Rover long-shots

Exploring the area nearby the Schiaparelli landing ellipse is the Opportunity rover.

Approximate region in box where Schiaparelli lander might have been visible above horizon by Opportunity – admittedly a long-shot.
Credit: James Rice/MER/JPL

“We appear to have five images between earliest parachute deployment time and latest backshell jettison time, and do not see anything that looks like Schiaparelli,” said Mark Lemmon on the Opportunity tactical shift rover control group.

Lemmon is also associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A & M University in College Station, Texas.

“We were advised that it [Schiaparelli] was more likely coming in short than long,” Lemmon told Inside Outer Space.