Andrew Yee[_1_]
February 25th 07, 04:57 AM
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 ]
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 ]