May 19th 05, 05:51 PM
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2005-080
Guy Webster/JPL (818) 354-6278
Michael Ravine (858) 552-2650, ext. 500
Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego
Dolores Beasley/NASA Headquarters (202) 358-1753
2005-080
One Mars Orbiter Takes First Photos of Other Orbiters
May 19, 2005
Photographs from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft released today
are the first pictures ever taken of a spacecraft orbiting a foreign
planet by another spacecraft orbiting that planet.
The new images of the European Space Agency's Mars Express and NASA's
Mars Odyssey are available on the Internet from NASA at
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mgs-images.html and
from
Malin Space Science Systems, the San Diego company that built and
operates the camera, at
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/05/19/index.html.
Mars Global Surveyor has been orbiting Mars since 1997, Mars Odyssey
since 2001. Both are managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
Calif.
Mars Express has been in orbit since late 2003.
Mars Express was passing about 155 miles away when the Mars Orbiter
Camera on Mars Global Surveyor photographed it on April 20. The next
day, the camera caught Mars Odyssey passing 56 to 84 miles away.
All three spacecraft are moving at almost 7,000 miles per hour, and at
62 miles distance the field-of-view of the Mars Orbiter Camera is only
830 yards across. If timing had been off by only a few seconds, the
images would have been blank.
The images were obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor operations teams
at
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver; JPL and Malin Space Science
Systems.
Guy Webster/JPL (818) 354-6278
Michael Ravine (858) 552-2650, ext. 500
Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego
Dolores Beasley/NASA Headquarters (202) 358-1753
2005-080
One Mars Orbiter Takes First Photos of Other Orbiters
May 19, 2005
Photographs from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft released today
are the first pictures ever taken of a spacecraft orbiting a foreign
planet by another spacecraft orbiting that planet.
The new images of the European Space Agency's Mars Express and NASA's
Mars Odyssey are available on the Internet from NASA at
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mgs-images.html and
from
Malin Space Science Systems, the San Diego company that built and
operates the camera, at
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/05/19/index.html.
Mars Global Surveyor has been orbiting Mars since 1997, Mars Odyssey
since 2001. Both are managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
Calif.
Mars Express has been in orbit since late 2003.
Mars Express was passing about 155 miles away when the Mars Orbiter
Camera on Mars Global Surveyor photographed it on April 20. The next
day, the camera caught Mars Odyssey passing 56 to 84 miles away.
All three spacecraft are moving at almost 7,000 miles per hour, and at
62 miles distance the field-of-view of the Mars Orbiter Camera is only
830 yards across. If timing had been off by only a few seconds, the
images would have been blank.
The images were obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor operations teams
at
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver; JPL and Malin Space Science
Systems.