Catalog Page for PIA07405

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PIA07405: A Slice of the Heat Shield

This image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity features a cross section through the structure and thermal protection system of the its heat shield. Six separation fittings were used to join and separate the heat shield from the backshell.

Target Name:	Mars
Is a satellite of:	Sol (our sun)
Mission:	Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
Spacecraft:	Opportunity
Instrument:	Panoramic Camera
Product Size:	1024 x 1024 pixels (w x h)
Produced By:	Cornell University
Full-Res TIFF:	PIA07405.tif (2.164 MB)
Full-Res JPEG:	PIA07405.jpg (134.4 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity features a cross section through the structure and thermal protection system of the rover's heat shield. Shown is one of six separation fittings used to join and separate the heat shield from the backshell during atmospheric entry, descent, and landing. Upon impact, this separation fitting punched through the structure.

This is an approximately true-color rendering of the scene acquired around 1:21 p.m. local solar time on Opportunity's sol 340 (Jan. 7, 2005) using panoramic camera filters at wavelengths of 750, 530, and 430 nanometers.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL/Cornell

Image Addition Date:

2005-03-01