Mars Express - Siding Spring flyby
Report live from the Mars Express operations team at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.
Europe’s Mars orbiter and its scientific instruments had a frontrow seat when Comet Siding Spring grazed the Red Planet, skimming past at a little more than a third of the Moon’s distance from Earth.
Siding Spring, discovered in January 2013, is less than a kilometre across and passed Mars at 56 km/s, closing to within 139 500 km at 18:27 GMT (20:27 CEST) on 19 October 2014.
More about Mars Express:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express
http://blogs.esa.int/mex
Europe’s Mars orbiter and its scientific instruments had a frontrow seat when Comet Siding Spring grazed the Red Planet, skimming past at a little more than a third of the Moon’s distance from Earth.
Siding Spring, discovered in January 2013, is less than a kilometre across and passed Mars at 56 km/s, closing to within 139 500 km at 18:27 GMT (20:27 CEST) on 19 October 2014.
More about Mars Express:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express
http://blogs.esa.int/mex