Rosetta Mars Flyby, Info and Links Options

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0702..._marsflyby.html

[nprev]

Yep...that's the Associated Press story that's on all the major news outlets. But...they forgot to include the pics!!!

[lyford]

I had exactly the same feeling when I saw it, except I thought it looked like a Chesley Bonestell illustration, it's just incredible... almost as if you're there...thanks ESA!!!

Ditto this - Thanks Doug for some truly excellent work!!!!

[mars loon]

Spaceflight now has posted this article WITH the stunning CIVA/Philae image. ken

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0702/25rosettamars/

Comet-bound probe enjoys close encounter with Mars
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: February 25, 2007

Europe's Rosetta comet probe shot past Mars early Sunday to line up for another swing by Earth later this year, putting the craft on course to reach its icy target in 2014.

Launched three years ago, Rosetta zoomed just 150 miles above the Martian surface at about 22,500 miles per hour relative to the Red Planet. The probe made its closest approach at 0215 GMT Sunday (9:15 p.m. EST Saturday) as it flew behind Mars and temporarily broke off communications with Earth.

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

Yep...that's the Associated Press story that's on all the major news outlets. But...they forgot to include the pics!!!

We, in Bulgaria, didn't forget to post some of the images here: http://www.space-bg.org/

More here:
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21990
And here:
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=23437
Enjoy!

[nprev]

(whew!)...Thanks, Loon & Z...that's reassuring. Would hate to see these incredible images NOT receive the wide exposure they clearly deserve. To drag out that old chestnut yet again, "no bucks, no Buck Rogers". Effective PR is important. Thanks again!

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

nprev: I just have to do it We ( space-bg ) are the only spaceflight media in Bulgaria We have to show the images

I just checked the Emily blog:

http://planetary.org/blog/

I would add to this:
Yes, Rosetta, you were there. What saddens me is that you'll be back in 2009. You will be the first spacecraft to go to Mars and to get back to Earth. You should have carried a capsule and some aerogel, to throw us some atmospheric probes. Maybe next time... the next spacecraft.

[nprev]

Thanks, Z, for all you do!

Terrific blog entry by Emily; it is both odd and exciting to see a piece of the spacecraft with Mars as the backdrop. I guess that makes it all seem somehow more "real": that's really something made by human hands, and that's really Mars that it's flying by! Just looking at the wire runs making a 90 deg turn at the edge of the solar panel with Mars below was somehow thrilling...

Might be a good idea on future missions to arrange similar shots whenever possible...can you imagine seeing the rings of Saturn as well as, say, the magnetometer boom of Cassini in the same image? This adds immediacy & relevance, provides a connection if you will between our daily lives and frames of reference and the unknown...possibly very important in many ways.

[fredk]

Is that picture actually color or simply colorized?

Transformed to hsl-space that CIVA image shows essentially constant hue over the mars portion. And the solar arrays are exactly grey. So it must be colourized. I could find no technical info on the CIVA cameras.

But gosh darnit, that's one of the coolest orbital views I've ever seen!!

edit: I couldn't've said it better, nprev. Ultra-realism in spacecraft imaging.

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

nprev : Yes, that's cool! And that's also a big success for ESA - Rosetta is the second successful Mars mission. Now we have one successful flyby and one successful orbiter.
Also a terrific picture should be an orbiter that snatches photo of a lander and the planet is in the background. Unfortunately, Beagle 2 wasn't in front of Mars when ESA snatched photos and the planet can't be seen.
Maybe we will see a separated lander and Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the background, or something like that. Minerva snatched a photo of Hayabusa after she left the mother craft, too...

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

I thought all the images were supposed to be released around 1pm local time in Europe? At least that's what was said on the website.

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMUDT70LYE_index_0.html

some of the images are being updated.

[Guest_John Flushing_*]

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=23437

[JTN]

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMUDT70LYE_index_0.html
some of the images are being updated.

...including a 3-filter, true-colour version of the full disc image (and some others).

Also a release on magnetic field measurements from Philae's ROMAP.

[Stu]

Just got back from work, clicked on the link to That Picture...



Unbelievable, just unbelievable! Well worth the wait!

Looking forward to seeing the magical crescent images... anyone know when they're due for release?