NASA Mars HiRise Images: Curiosity rover’s parachute flapping in the Martian wind

Credit: Nasa /Caltech

The orbiting HiRISE camera captures the Curiosity rover’s parachute flapping in the Martian wind!

The animation was made from seven images taken over the course of several months; the changes in between each frame are due to changing light conditions, angle of the camera to the ground, and so on.

You can also see the back shell that protected the parachute to the upper right; the distance from the parachute to the back shell is about 50 meters.

There may be some science to glean from this: the direction and strength of the wind, information on how durable the parachute is, etc. These could be useful in planning future missions.