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Mars Express Orbiter Buzzes Martian Moon Phobos
astroengine writes "On Sunday, at 5:17 p.m. GMT (12:17 p.m. EST), Europe's Mars Express orbiter successfully completed a daring low-pass of Mars' largest moon Phobos. In an effort to precisely measure the gravitational field of the moon, the 10 year-old mission was sent on a trajectory that took it only 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the dusty surface, the closest any spacecraft has ever come to the natural satellite."
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Gently reply
Is it dead, or can the lunatics make it work? One thing they'll have going for them is the lack of human or workers rights advocacy and monitoring organizations on the moon. But even if the automated systems work more reliably and with fewer complaints than their biological counterparts, it will cost a fortune to transport and maintain such robotics so far away from the home of the luddites, unions and the down trodden. How will anyone actually benefit from such efforts to mine the moon for materials that will be so much more costly?
Here is a simulated view of the Mars Express pass from the surface of Phobos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-YlKEKt-_k
However, the simulation missed something - Mars Express has a 40 meter dipole antenna - at 45 km, that's 3 arc min, so you could see Sun glint on the dipoles with your naked eye (i.e., you could resolve it as a structure, not just a dot of light). With a pair of binoculars, you could even see the spacecraft's solar panels.
This was a radiometric (Doppler tracking) pass, with the main antenna pointed at the Earth. Pictures would have required re-orienting the spacecraft, and ideally rotating it to remove any motion blur on the close approach. You cannot do that and keep lock on the Earth, and they wanted to nail down the mass of Phobos. Initial reports from the DSN are the the Phobos gravity Doppler shift was visible in the "raw" residuals, so it's likely they will meet this goal.
"[S]ent on a trajectory that took it only 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the dusty surface"
What is the range of a BFG?
Trolling is a art,
They don't have a third floor.
Not to take anything away from the orbiter team, but damn...that moon looks almost as exciting as a lump of coal. What a crappy black rock.
The dimensions of this moon is only 13.4 × 11.2 × 9.2 km. Pretty tiny, it seems to me, for a planet the size of Mars.
Did they manage to capture any images of the elusive Leather Goddesses...?
Cool, while you were doing that I took a daring pass at his Mom!
I'm pretty sure we've sent satellites plummeting into the ground of stellar bodies at terminal velocity due to software and/or math errors. Hard to get closer than that.
The 350lb whale? Gross...
The timeless film 'Robinson Crusoe On Mars' details what has already been accomplished.
Were Nasa to study the film in detail frame per frame down to the silver oxide on the 35 mm film they discover wonders of winders and maybe General Astro-nut His Majesties Fleet Ship Of The Royal Realm Charlie Bolden might just fell a bit .. er well ... Bolden.
Pity that Nasa on spends just a tad over 0.01% USGDP and gets nothing in return. A sad economy of reducing returns.
Should Charlie get .... Bolden ... then Nasa might just propose ... something! ... a bit more insightful than a pencil with erasure on both ends!
Lordy Lordy
What they aren't showing us are the huge half mechanical demons with rocket launchers grafted onto their arms........
Huh?
Did they really think it was an artificial satellite like I. S. Shklovski and Carl Sagan suggested in "Intelligent Life in the Universe"?
It's about time we got some reconnaisance on this place, I remember many years ago stories of people fighting the most hellish of beasts here!
Sorry, Goose, but it's time to buzz a tower.