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ExoMars: first picture of crashed Mars probe shows crater and mystery marking
The European space probe Schiaparelli created a 1.6 feet deep crater when it crash landed on Mars, the first pictures show today.
The lander, which was part of the ExoMars mission, smashed into the surface on October 19 after its parachute opened too early and retrorockets failed to fire for long enough meaning it hit the ground at high speed.
Mission controllers at the European Space Agency lost contact with the probe shortly after it entered the Martian atmosphere.
There has been no sign of the Schiaparelli since then, but today the ESA released a picture taken from Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which showed the landing site.
It showed a dark fuzzy circular area of around 50 by 164 feet (15 x 50 metres) with a central darker spot of about 8 feet (2.4 metres).
The ESA said the markings were consistent with a 44 stone (300kg) object – the weight of the probe – hitting the ground a few hundred miles per hour. The team estimates that the impact created a 1.6 foot crater (50cm).
A spokesman for the ESA said: “The asymmetric surrounding dark markings are more difficult to interpret. In the case of a meteoroid hitting the surface at 24 000–50 000 mph, asymmetric debris surrounding a crater would typically point to a low incoming angle, with debris thrown out in the direction of travel.
“But Schiaparelli was travelling considerably slower and, according to the normal timeline, should have been descending almost vertically after slowing down during its entry into the atmosphere from the west.
“It is possible the hydrazine propellant tanks in the module exploded preferentially in one direction upon impact, throwing debris from the planet’s surface in the direction of the blast, but more analysis is needed to explore this idea further.”
A long dark arc can also be seen to the upper right of the dark patch which has left experts scratching their heads. They believe it could also be linked to an explosion on impact.
There are a few white dots in the image which could be debris from the craft.