NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Visits its Heat Shield Impact Site (Photo gallery)

“NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity gained this view of its own heat shield during the rover’s 325th martian day (Dec. 22, 2004). The main structure from the successfully used shield is to the far left. Additional fragments of the heat shield lie in the upper center of the image. The heat shield’s impact mark is visible just above and to the right of the foreground shadow of Opportunity’s camera mast.”

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member...