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Good morning from the Mars Express Dedicated Control Room (DCR) at ESA/ESOC!
Yesterday's orbit change manoeuvre went as planned, and this morning at 05:52 UTC (06:52 CET) we passed by Phobos at a predicted altitude of 991 km, the first in our series of 12 planned flybys. This pass was used to acquire PFS spectrometer readings and to scan the moon with our MARSIS subsurface sounding radar.
As I write these lines, data from this exciting event is being downloaded from Mars Express via NASA's DSN trackign station at Goldstone, in California's Mojave dessert, and we are all anxiously awaiting the analysis by the flight dynamics experts at ESOC to show the actual, observed fly-by parameters.
Stand by for more exciting news about our visits to a moon that has so far provided us with many more questions than answers. -- Hannes
PS: Read today's full report in the ESA website:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM4Q1NEG5G_index_0.html
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEM4Q1NEG5G_0.html
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09-06-2010 • 05:36:18
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24-02-2010 • 18:38:12
as an artist,am struck by the quite similar proportion of this object to a human brain.
24-02-2010 • 10:17:59
Sorry, I just noticed. The rift/fault to which I was referring in the previous query is the result of the large impact on the opposite side of Phobos, making it an antipodean impact rift. Sorry for not seeing the obvious.
24-02-2010 • 10:07:24
First, there's a bit that looks like a hippo's bum, then something that looks like an opera singer blasting out at full bore, then a very curious looking rift that looks like a serious fault which may bisect Phobos.
Anything on that?
21-02-2010 • 13:07:50
I THINK IS WONDERFUL ONE CAN SEE THIS IMAGES AS IF WE WERE NEAR THIS MOON.IM ASTONISHED AND MARVELED FOR IT.THANKYOU.HAVE A GOOD DAY.
19-02-2010 • 00:20:12
Just asking, would a close Deimos pass ever be possible with Mars Express?
Also during the first five Phobos passes, is imagery not possible during the inbound or outbound legs of the encounter either side of the night side closest approaches?
Andrew Brown 3488
19-02-2010 • 10:01:04
Unfortunately, Deimos is out of reach for the Mars Express spacecraft. See also my earlier reply.
17-02-2010 • 11:09:58
Hello and thanks to all the team with this MEX' blog ! Have a look here :
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/4184/rush02.mp4
I'm finalizing this animation in Celestia, here is a first & short draft thanks to public models and to your trajectory data. MEX' orientation is fictive and Celestia's Phobos model needs to be updated with yours... My calculation shows the nearest approach at 20:56:30 TU, 48km from surface. But I'm wondering because the flyby seems to go to the shadowed side of Phobos and far away from Stickney crater (how to map future Phobos-Grunt's site?!). I will update and share if I get the newest Phobos model (in CMOD or 3DS format) and the MEX' orientation quaternions (.q)... could you send these to me :) pleazzzz' ?
19-02-2010 • 10:15:24
The closest ever fly-by will not be used for visual imagery and landing site mapping. This will be done during other fly-bys which are further away and therefore better suited. The reason is that at such a close range (50km), the required slew rates for tracking the moon with a camera would exceed the vehicle's attitude control system capabilities. Plus, the way that Mars Express' cameras work would make the pictures appear smeared (like when you try to acquire a photograph of a car that passes by really close at high speed). Besides, we are passing behind the dark side of the moon anyway.
The closest ever flyby is actually used for radio-science. This means that we are tracking the spacecraft by recording it's unmodulated, "clean" radio signal, and that data can later be processed to reveal minute velocity changes resulting from Phobos' gravitational tug. The influence of Phobos on the trajectory of Mars Express can be isolated and then be further processed to reveal the structure of Phobos' gravitational field. This in turn shows the moon's interior mass distribution, and will ultimately help answering the question where Phobos came from and how it formed.
24-02-2010 • 12:57:49
Please, why don't you provide us with Phobos' 3D-model in CMOD or 3DS formats ?!? Isn't it public domain now?
24-02-2010 • 13:02:32
We do not presently have better models in these formats at our disposal. The science teams might have better model, but if they do they didn't publish them yet.
Sorry this is the best we can do at the moment.
17-02-2010 • 04:15:55
Great that you are blogging this! And I appreciate the quantitative details (time and height of flyby). I was comparing this with JPL's Horizons which I am assuming has an out of date trajectory for MEX - it gives the close approach at 0552 UTC but at a larger distance (1480 km) I'm wondering if it's nevertheless a good guide for at least the dates of the upcoming flybys (which would then be Feb 19,21,24,Mar8,11,14).
17-02-2010 • 14:40:53
Apologies, I see some of my questions were answered in an earlier blog posting. I look forward to details on the upcoming flybys as they happen.
16-02-2010 • 17:39:15
are slowly revealing their secrets, that's very exciting indeed, but what about the third object in this part of the solar system, yes what about Deimos? Why not study Deimos too while being there? I'm sure Deimos has as many secrets to reveal as Phobos and Mars do. Don't get me wrong, this is not a critic, only a proposition. It would be sad to go to Paris and visit only the Eiffel Tower and Champs-Elysées without visiting the Louvre museum too. Thank you ESA for letting us make comments.
16-02-2010 • 17:50:01
Dear Bruce,
Your proposition is interesting and much appreciated. Naturally, we would love to go to Deimos as well. However, we have only a limited amount of fuel on board the space craft and the orbit of Deimos unfortunately lies beyond our reach.
So we are forced to pass this one up.
Greetings from the Mission Control Room,
Hannes.
16-02-2010 • 13:28:42
Very exiting waiting the 50km flyby !
While awaiting, can you tell me where can be found the 3d model shown at the top of the page ?
Thanks a lot !
16-02-2010 • 13:37:59
Jean: You can grab the original animation in the ESA Multimedia gallery: http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=VAG&keyword=Phobos&single=y&start=1