Experts from the European Space Agency have confirmed the version of the loss of the European probe Schiaparelli. Most likely, the spacecraft crashed while landing on the surface of the Red Planet.
Recall that the landing of Schiaparelli was carried out on October 19, simultaneously with the entry into Mars orbit of its 'mother' vehicle TGO. The calculated entry of the TGO module into the Martian orbit was carried out successfully, which cannot be said about the descent vehicle. During its descent into the planet's atmosphere, the probe transmitted a signal to the TGO and Mars-Express orbiters. The same signal, but with strong noise, was barely picked up by the Indian antenna array on Earth. However, after some time, about 50 seconds before the intended touch, the signal suddenly interrupted.
Having deciphered the signals that preceded the incident, the scientists were able to establish that at first the descent took place in a regular mode: the braking parachute worked, the heat shield was shot. However, the parachute detached ahead of schedule. And then nothing is known about the fate of the descent vehicle.
On Friday evening, ESA specialists released images of the proposed landing site, which were taken by the American MRO device, which has been circling Mars for ten years. The low-resolution CTX camera on board the MRO was able to capture the landing area on the Meridian Plateau at six meters per pixel. When comparing the images of this area, taken in May this year, and October – after landing, scientists made out two new objects that were not there before.
The first is a bright object – in all likelihood, nothing more than a parachute with a diameter of 12 m, which separated during the descent after detaching the protective shield. “Both of them separated before the start of the final phase of the descent, in which nine jet engines were to turn on and slow down the vehicle just before the surface,” the ESA said.
The second object is a wider black patch measuring about 15 by 40 m, located a kilometer north of the parachute. According to scientists, this is the place of the impact of the apparatus on the surface of Mars after falling at a high speed, which was not so extinguished by the engines that turned off ahead of time.
“It is estimated that Schiaparelli fell from a height of 2-4 km, as a result of which it hit with a high speed, more than 300 km / h,” the ESA said in a statement.
The large size of the spot visible on the surface of the planet and the raised ground are explained by the high impact velocity. It is also possible that an explosion occurred from the impact, since the tanks of the device at that time were filled with fuel.
Both objects in the images are located at a point with coordinates 353.79 degrees east longitude and 2.07 degrees south latitude.
Scientists plan to test their assumptions as early as next week, when the landing site will be filmed with a higher resolution HiRISE camera. Photos will help to establish the location of the protective shield. Scientists intend to restore in detail the chronology of the descent of the module, which was observed from three different vehicles. At the same time, the location of the dark spot indicates that the probe fell 5 km from the place of the proposed landing, but inside the calculated ellipse with parameters 100 by 15 km.
The situation is different with the TGO orbital module.
“At the moment, communication with it has been established, the parameters of its orbit are 101,0003691 km, the orbital period is 4.2 days,” the ESA explained. – According to the plans, the scientific activity of the probe will begin in November with the receipt of calibration data. In March of the coming year, the probe will begin decelerating against the planet's atmosphere to find itself in a circular orbit with an altitude of 400 km. After that, it will begin collecting scientific information, and in 2020 it will be used as a relay for the future Martian rover. '
In addition to European scientific instruments, two Russian instruments, ACS and FREND, developed by the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, are installed on board this spacecraft. They will help to study the smallest concentrations of individual elements in the planet's atmosphere, as well as measure the neutron flux from its surface, which is associated with the presence of water in the soil.
Sources: ESA
