NASA found ESA's crashed Mars lander
NASA has spotted a change on Mars' surface, which scientists point to as the European Space Agency's lost Schiaparelli lander. The lander lost its signal on the Red planet Wednesday.
The orbiting Spacecraft camera of NASA compared images of the Meridian Plenum area near the equator; they were taken on May 29 and October 20, 2016. The camera found the evidence of the lander and parachute.
According to a newly released photo taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in Martian orbit, the image shows the Schiaparelli landing site in May 2016, compared to today with two new spots, is visible. The lower half bright spot is likely the lander's parachute. The top of the darker spot image could be the location of Schiaparelli.
Now that the MRO has a target, it will snap more photos of the landing sites with its High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera as soon as it makes another pass over the same area. This would further help the European Space Agency to understand on a sequence that led to a loss of communication from the lender, reported by ars TECHNICA.
The most important part of the ExoMars mission is its Trace Gas Orbiter, is alive and well in space. However, the Schiaparelli lander was supposed to provide ESA with confidence that the future mission of Mars 2020 rover could land on Mars safely.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has located a European lander that is the 2013 British Beagle 2 spacecraft, which lost contact during its final descent, reported by PM.
The Schiaparelli spacecraft was an experimental lander and part of the larger EXoMars mission - a joint venture between ESA and Russia. ExoMars also includes the Trace Gas Orbiter, which successfully entered Mars orbit on Wednesday, as well as a planned for the Mars 2020 mission.
Now still there is doubt. ESA lost contact with Schiaparelli about one minute before its landing on the surface of Mars.
The answer to this question is not yet clear, so the additional image from the satellite could help for further investigation.
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