Astro Image in the News:
Spying on the Neighbors
By the Editors of Sky & Telescope

Courtesy NASA/JPL/MSSS.

Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), the oldest working spacecraft orbiting the red planet, is taking some time to check out the newest kids in the neighborhood. On April 20th, astronomers used the veteran's Mars Orbiter Camera to take pictures of another spacecraft: Mars Express. The two orbiters were about 250 kilometers (155 miles) apart when MGS shot the picture. Three images were combined to provided this view of the 15-meter-wide European craft. In the middle are the orbiter's cameras and what is most likely a reflection from the craft's high-gain antenna. The wings are reflections from the solar panels.

Courtesy NASA/JPL/MSSS.

The next day MGS continued its snooping game by capturing high-resolution images of another spacecraft: NASA's Mars Odyssey. The image was captured from about 90 kilometers away. The 6-meter-long boom holding the craft's Gamma Ray Spectrometer is quite visible, as is Mars Odyssey's high-gain antenna, seen as the top bright spot on the right side.

These are the first-ever pictures of a Martian orbiter taken from another Martian orbiter.

©2005 Sky Publishing Corp.

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JUST WAIT UNTIL WE ADD THE MORNING SHUTTLE FLIGHTS TO WORK WITH HUMANS ON MARS. - LRK -