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Parachute Test

Mars Exploration Rover parachute deployment testing

February 26, 2003

Mars Exploration Rover parachute deployment testing in the world's largest wind tunnel at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, Calif.

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Artist's concept of rover using the rock abrasion tool (RAT) on the robotic arm grinds away the rock's surface, allowing scientific instruments to analyze the rock's interior.
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Artist's concept of rover using the rock abrasion tool (RAT) on the robotic arm grinds away the rock's surface, allowing scientific instruments to analyze the rock's interior.
Mars Exploration Rovers: Analyzing with RAT
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to capture the component images for this 360-degree view near the ridgeline of Endeavour Crater's western rim.
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera on May 10, 2014, to capture this 360-degree view near the ridgeline of Endeavour Crater's western rim. The center is southeastward. Rocks on the slope to the right of center are in an outcrop area targeted for the rover to study.
Approaching a Target Deposit on Mars Crater Rim
Opportunity used its panoramic camera to take the images combined into this mosaic view of the rover.
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Opportunity used its panoramic camera to take the images combined into this mosaic view of the rover.
Opportunity Self-Portrait
This global map of Mars shows a growing dust storm as of June 6, 2018. The map was produced by the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
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This global map of Mars shows a growing dust storm as of June 6, 2018. The map was produced by the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
Dust Storm Covers Opportunity
The yellow line on this map shows where NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has driven from the place where it landed in January 2004 -- inside Eagle crater, at the upper left end of the track -- to a po...
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The yellow line on this map shows where NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has driven from the place where it landed in January 2004 -- inside Eagle crater, at the upper left end of the track -- to a point about 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) away from reaching the rim of Endeavour crater.
Eagle to Endeavour: Opportunity's Path, Sol 2609
Researchers used the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to capture this 10-second-exposure view of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring as it passed near Mars on Oct. 1...
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Researchers used the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to capture this 10-second-exposure view of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring as it passed near Mars on Oct. 19, 2014.
Mars Rover Opportunity's View of Passing Comet (Short Exposure)
JPLers pounded the pavement in celebration of a Mars marathon milestone. Opportunity rover took 11 years and 2 months to clock 26.2 miles. The team's time was considerably less.
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JPL Runners Celebrate Mars Marathon
JPL Runners Celebrate Mars Marathon
This image is a cropped version of the last 360-degree panorama taken by the Opportunity rover's Pancam from May 13 through June 10, 2018. The panorama appears in 3D when seen through blue-red glas...
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This image is a cropped version of the last 360-degree panorama taken by the Opportunity rover's Pancam from May 13 through June 10, 2018. The panorama appears in 3D when seen through blue-red glasses with the red lens on the left.
Opportunity Legacy Pan (Stereo)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, working on Mars since January 2004, passed 25 miles of total driving on the July 27, 2014. The gold line on this map shows Opportunity's route from the la...
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, working on Mars since January 2004, passed 25 miles of total driving on the July 27, 2014. The gold line on this map shows Opportunity's route from the landing site inside Eagle Crater, in upper left, to its location after the July 27 (Sol 3735) drive.
Opportunity's Journey Exceeds 25 Miles
NASA Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen addressed the Opportunity rover team inside Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, a few hours before...
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NASA Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen addressed the Opportunity rover team inside Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, a few hours before the team made its last attempts to listen for the rover’s signal from Mars. The image was taken on Feb. 12, 2019.
Addressing the Opportunity Team
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to capture this false-color panorama of the "Matijevic Hill" area on the "Cape York" segment of the western rim of Endea...
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to capture this false-color panorama of the "Matijevic Hill" area on the "Cape York" segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater.
Diverse Outcrops on 'Matijevic Hill'
Spirit drove through the basin south of "Husband Hill," mainly driving over sand and dune deposits until it came across this spectacular example of basaltic rocks called "Lorre Ridge."
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Spirit drove through the basin south of "Husband Hill," mainly driving over sand and dune deposits until it came across this spectacular example of basaltic rocks called "Lorre Ridge."
Gusev Lava Rocks
Stowed in the nose cone of this Delta II rocket, the Mars Exploration Rover blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's destination: the planet Mars.
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Stowed in the nose cone of this Delta II rocket, the Mars Exploration Rover blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's destination: the planet Mars.
Mars Exploration Rovers: Delta II Rocket Artwork
This 360-degree stereo anaglyph of the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was taken on the rover's 171st sol on Mars (July 17, 2004).
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This 360-degree stereo anaglyph of the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
'Endurance' All Around (3-D)
Since landing on Mars a year ago, NASA's pair of six-wheeled geologists have been constantly exposed to martian winds and dust.
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Since landing on Mars a year ago, NASA's pair of six-wheeled geologists have been constantly exposed to martian winds and dust.
Dust on Mars: Before and After (Opportunity)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity obtained this view from the top of the "Cape Tribulation" segment of the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover reached this point three weeks before the 11th ...
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity obtained this view from the top of the "Cape Tribulation" segment of the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover reached this point three weeks before the 11th anniversary of its January 2004 landing on Mars.
High Martian Viewpoint for 11-Year-Old Rover (False-Color Landscape)
From left: Dave Lavery, program executive for Solar System Exploration at NASA Headquarters, Dr. Ed Weiler, associate administrator, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Pe...
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From left: Dave Lavery, program executive for Solar System Exploration at NASA Headquarters, Dr. Ed Weiler, associate administrator, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Pete Theisinger, (former) Mars Exploration Rover project manager and JPL lab director, Dr. Charles Elachi celebrate the success of Spirit's landing and transmission of first images.
Spirit: First Images
Spirit acquired this mosaic while investigating the area east of the elevated plateau known as "Home Plate" in the "Columbia Hills." The trench exposed a patch of nearly pure silica, with the comp...
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Spirit acquired this mosaic while investigating the area east of the elevated plateau known as "Home Plate" in the "Columbia Hills." The trench exposed a patch of nearly pure silica, with the composition of opal. It could have come from either a hot-spring environment or an environment called a fumarole, in which acidic, volcanic steam rises through cracks. Either way, its formation involved water, and on Earth, both of these types of settings teem with microbial life.
Rover's Wheel Churns Up Bright Martian Soil
John Callas, project manager for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers mission, makes the call ending the last formal session via NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) for the Opportunity rover at Mars on Feb. ...
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John Callas, project manager for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers mission, makes the call ending the last formal session via NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) for the Opportunity rover at Mars on Feb. 12, 2019.
Last Call to Opportunity
With the parachute deployed, three retrorockets fire their engines, suspending the lander 30 - 50 feet above the Martian surface.
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With the parachute deployed, three retrorockets fire their engines, suspending the lander 30 - 50 feet above the Martian surface.
Mars Exploration Rovers: Descent Artwork
This May 29, 2016, image of a target called "Private Joseph Field" combines images from the microscopic imager on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity with enhanced color information from the ...
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This May 29, 2016, image of a target called "Private Joseph Field" combines images from the microscopic imager on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity with enhanced color information from the rover's panoramic camera. The target is on the western rim of Mars' Endeavour Crater.
Opportunity View of 'Private Joseph Field' on Mars
This June 2017 view from the Pancam on NASA's Opportunity Mars rover shows the area just above "Perseverance Valley" on the western rim of Endeavour Crater. Color has been enhanced to make diffe...
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This June 2017 view from the Pancam on NASA's Opportunity Mars rover shows the area just above "Perseverance Valley" on the western rim of Endeavour Crater. Color has been enhanced to make differences in surface materials more easily.
Panorama Above 'Perseverance Valley' (Enhanced Color)
This image shows NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity perched on the edge of "Concepción" crater in Meridiani Planum, Mars.
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This image shows NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity perched on the edge of "Concepción" crater in Meridiani Planum, Mars.
Opportunity at 'Concepción' Crater, Seen from Orbit
"Marathon Valley" on Mars opens to a view across Endeavour Crater in this enhanced-color version of a scene from the Pancam of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The scene merges many expos...
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"Marathon Valley" on Mars opens to a view across Endeavour Crater in this enhanced-color version of a scene from the Pancam of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The scene merges many exposures taken during April and May 2016. The foreground shows the fractured texture of the valley.
Mars Rover Opportunity's Panorama of 'Marathon Valley' (Enhanced Color)
Gazing across the landscape of the "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater on Mars, scientists saw hints of tilted rock layers across the area traversed by the Spirit rover.
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Gazing across the landscape of the "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater on Mars, scientists saw hints of tilted rock layers across the area traversed by the Spirit rover.
Contemplating Rock Layers

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