If the Mars 2 parachute opened, there probably isn't a crater. Even if it didn't open, the crater would probably be pretty small and hard to detect. Even the MOC's highest resolution is on the order of 1.5 meters per pixel. The Mars 2 crater would probably only look like a single pixel.
Not being familiar with the Mars 2 descent profile, I can only speculate about the following. Odds are the parachute was disconnected at some altitude above the ground so the spacecraft could land on rocket power. You probably wouldn't want to land with the parachute still attacked because it could possible drape over the spacecraft or even pull it on its side. The Russians proved that Murphy's Law works on Venus. There's no reason it wouldn't work on Mars, too.
If the chute opened and was cut loose during the landing descent, it'd quickly collapse and fall to the ground. In the thin Martian atmosphere, it might tumble along in the wind for a time but probably not for long. The air there is only about 1% as dense as here on Earth so even strong winds don't produce a lot of force. I don't have it handy right now, but I put together a spreadsheet a couple years ago to estimate the equivalent drag on an object on Mars at different wind speeds. If memory serves, it took a wind 9 times as strong on Mars to produce the same amount of drag force on Earth. If that's right, a 90 MPH wind on Mars would produce no more force than a 10 MPH wind on Earth.
After 30 years on the surface, it'd probably be covered with dust by now and hard to detect. I don't know what colors they used on the parachute or if that would even be a factor in finding it. The MOC's high resolution camera is monochrome.
My experience with parachutes was in the Army. After hitting the ground (hard!), the chute would sometime try to drag me. I was once nearly dragged into a rusty barbed wire fence. When I released one of the risers, the chute would quickly collapse.
Space/Science » in reply to The Mars-2 parachute
Re: The Mars-2 parachute
