It would be interesting to know if they can remotely trigger the parachutes - i.e. in this case after it had fallen a ways they could have triggered them - even just to see what would happen.
Yes, it seems likely that the capsule and at least some of the contents could have survived if they had opened the parachutes on descent. Of course, I don't know where it would have landed or how long it would have taken to get a ship out there or.... Anyway, I imagine it just wasn't in the plans for something like this.