Extreme Close-Up of Mars's Moon Phobos

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 16, 2010 @12:36PM from the you-lookin'-at-me dept.

coondoggie writes "The European Space Agency's Mars exploring satellite will make a number of close-up passes of the Martian moon Phobos. The Mars Express, which the agency launched in 2003, has begun a series of flybys of Phobos, the largest moon of Mars, that will ultimately set a new record for the closest pass to Phobos — skimming the surface at 50 km, or about 31 miles. This is only about 5 times the irregular moon's average radius. The data collected by the satellite could help solve some of the mysteries about the moon, beginning with that of its origin."

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Picture caption by jms · 2010-02-16 12:50 · Score: 5, Funny

For sale: One Death Star. Full size. Somewhat lumpy. Amateur construction. Needs work.
1. Re:Picture caption by RobertB-DC · 2010-02-16 12:58 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  For sale: One Death Star. Full size. Somewhat lumpy. Amateur construction. Needs work.
  That's just an early engineering prototype. The production model came out looking much better.
  
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  Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.