# @nasaartemis on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BM6VHPOj7ZL
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/15346314-nasaartemis-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/6b9cfdad59.jpg
- **Posted:** 2016-11-17T12:33:25.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA Artemis (@nasaartemis) — https://gondola.cc/nasaartemis

## Caption

HiRISE acquired this now famous image of the Phoenix Lander during its descent through the atmosphere. The lander was still inside the backshell hanging from its parachute at the moment this image was taken. It was an engineering triumph to capture the lander within the HiRISE field of view. We had hoped for it to be within the color portion of the HiRISE camera, but unfortunately it missed that area.

For this reason, processing the color bands did not take a high priority in the days following acquisition of this image. The unusual geometry of the image prevented the color processing from running through the automated software pipelines. It had to be processed “by hand” which means processing parameters were adjusting manually until good registration of the color bands was achieved.

The color does give some more information about the crater. There is frost or ice in the bowl of the crater which shows up as blue in the false color HiRISE data. Here the color has been adjusted for a more natural appearance. The frost is visible in the right side of the non-projected image.

The Phoenix Lander discarded its heat shield after deploying the parachute. Scientists and engineers at JPL believe that the heat shield should also be visible in this image. After some analysis, the small dark dot located below the lander looks like a stong candidate for the heat shield. It is in the right location based on descent trajectories and timing. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  #NASA #Mars #PhoenixLander #HiRISE #photography #space #explore #planet

## Stats

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## Tags

nasa, space, mars, phoenixlander, photography, explore, hirise, planet

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