Rosetta successfully swings-by Mars -- next target: Earth (Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

25 February 2007

Rosetta successfully swings-by Mars -- next target: Earth

At 03:57 CET [0257 UTC] today, mission controllers at ESOC, ESA's Space
Operations Centre in Germany, confirmed Rosetta's successful swingby of
Mars, a key milestone in the 7.1-thousand-million km journey of this
unique spacecraft to its target comet in 2014.

The gravitational energy of Mars helped Rosetta change direction, while
the spacecraft was decelerated with respect to the Sun by an estimated
7887 km/hour. The spacecraft is now on the correct track towards Earth --
its next destination planet whose gravitational energy Rosetta will
exploit in November this year to gain acceleration and continue on its
trek.

Presented in this article is one two-colour composite image of Mars
collected by Rosetta's Optical, Spectroscopic and Imaging system (OSIRIS)
instrument before closest approach to the planet, and before the orbiter
instruments where switched off for the spacecraft's Mars eclipse period.

The OSIRIS narrow-angle camera took this image at 19:28 CET [1828 UTC], 24
February. It shows Mars from a distance of 240 000 kms and at a resolution
of about 5 kms per pixel. The greenish regions are clouds above the Red
Planet's surface.

New images are expected to be available online after 13:00 [1200 UTC]
today.

[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMWZ5CE8YE_index_1.html ]

Andrew Yee (or somebody else of the same name) wrote thusly in message
:

The spacecraft is now on the correct track towards Earth --
its next destination planet whose gravitational energy Rosetta will
exploit in November this year to gain acceleration and continue on its
trek.

Shifting Earth ever so much closer to the sun.

GLOBAL WARMING!!!
--
He hadde not leyser for to loke after who is his freend & who is his fo.
- The Cloud of Unknowing (anon, 14th century)

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