Mars Curiosity Rover Location Pinpointed In Satellite View

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The present location of NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover, or rather, its present location as of August 17, is seen in the following satellite image snapped by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, one of three artificial satellites currently orbiting the planet that are in communciation with the rover on the ground:

 

The image, acquired by the orbiter’s HiRISE instrument, is annotated to show not only the rover (second box from the left), but also the pieces of the rover’s landing craft discarded during its 7-minute, 13,000 mile-per-hour-to-zero descent from space on August 6th. Those pieces of equipment include the heat shield (first box from right), backshell and parachute (third box from right), the descent stage itself, which included the rocket thrusters (fourth box from right).

NASA also found three dark spots (boxes first and second from left) which it hasn’t yet identified. The agency things they may be “far-flung rocks or objects associated with the impact,” adding “Seven bright spots associated with the descent stage crash site, as well, may be pieces of hardware.”

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