File:Opportunity Heat Shield Sol335B P2364 L456-B339R1.jpg
The fact that the heat shield is now inside out makes it more challenging to evaluate the state of the thermal protection system that is now on the inside. In coming sols, Opportunity will investigate the debris with its microscopic imager.
Engineers who designed and built the heat shield are thrilled to see the hardware on the surface of Mars. This provides a unique opportunity to look at how the thermal protection system material survived the actual Mars entry. Team members hope this information will allow them to compare their predictions to what really happened.
This is an approximately true-color rendering, generated using the panoramic camera's 600, 530 and 480 nanometer filters.(Reusing this file)