Ironic Science Reality: Flying Saucers on Mars from Earth

By Nancy Atkinson - August 8, 2012 at 7:33 PM UTC | Planetary Science
curiosity-saucer.jpg

"Irony: The first real flying saucer is from Earth. And it landed on Mars."

That's a quote we saw via UT writer Ray Sanders, from a great graphic making its way around the internet. But amazingly, it's true. Above is a high resolution image from the Mars Science Laboratory's MARDI instrument showing the heat shield falling away from the spacecraft and heading towards Mars, looking like a classic flying saucer UFO. This image shows the 4.5-meter (15-foot) diameter heat shield when it was about 16 meters (50 feet) from the spacecraft.

The image shows so much detail that "You can actually see the stitching in the thermal blanket and some wiring" said Mike Malin during a press conference at JPL today.

Here's a new, higher resolution video of the heat shield's descent from what was previously available:

This image shows the inside surface of the heat shield, with its protective multi-layered insulation. The bright patches are calibration targets for MARDI. Also visible is the Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrument (MEDLI) hardware attached to the inside surface.

Malin said that at this range, the image has a spatial scale of 0.4 inches (1 cm) per pixel. It is the 36th MARDI image, obtained about three seconds after heat shield separation and about two and one-half minutes before touchdown.

Emily Lakdawalla has another image that she "tweaked" that shows another look at the heat shield when it is farther away from MSL:

Caption: MSL's heat shield falling towards Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Emily Lakdawalla

"It is still mind-blowing to think that this snapshot was taken by a spacecraft flying in the air above a different planet," Emily wrote on the

Planetary Blog.

In other MSL news, Curiosity's mast is deployed, evidenced by this shadow self-portrait:

And also from the images from the Navigation Cameras on the mast:

At the press conference, Curiosity's Chief Scientist John Grotzinger said the view reminded him of the Mojave Desert, and remarked on the striking familiarity of an almost "Earth-like" plain with the crater rim in the distance. There also appears to be a little haze in the air that Grotzinger likened to "LA smog."

Jason Major also

posted a panoramic view of Curiosity's surroundings

by combining a couple of shots from the Navigation cameras.

And here's that great graphic by Ken Watson:

Here's where you can find more of the latest images from MSL.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com