Simulating Schiaparelli's descent camera view

Simulated sequence of the 15 images that the descent camera on the ExoMars Schiaparelli module is expected to take during its descent to the surface of Mars on 19 October 2016. The descent camera will start taking images about one minute after the front shield has been jettisoned. In the simulated images shown here, this corresponds to the first image being taken from an altitude of about 3 km. The camera takes images every 1.5 seconds: the final image in this simulated sequence is at ~1.5 km, but depending on Schiaparelli’s actual descent speed on the day, the final image may be acquired closer to the surface.

The views are generated from images taken by the CTX context camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the centre of the landing ellipse, and represent the ground-projected field-of-view expected from Schiaparelli’s camera at each altitude.

More information: What to expect from Schiaparelli's camera