Novel View of Martian Spacecraft

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zavvy

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<b>Novel View of Martian Spacecraft</b><br /><br />LINK & PICS<br /><br />It is the first picture of a spacecraft orbiting an alien world, taken by another craft circling the same planet. <br /><br />This image of Mars Odyssey was taken by its sister craft, Mars Global Surveyor, while they were both moving around the Red Planet at more than 11,000km per hour (6,800mph). <br /><br />The US space agency (Nasa) probe also turned its camera on Mars Express, a European visitor to the planet. <br /><br />Mars Express was about 250km (155 miles) away from Nasa's orbiter at the time. <br /><br />The probes have been surveying the Martian surface for the past few years during an unprecedented period of scientific activity at the fourth planet. <br /><br />Traffic jam <br /><br />Mars Global Surveyor arrived in 1997, followed by Mars Odyssey in 2001, and then the European Space Agency's Mars Express in December 2003. <br /><br />All three are circling the Red Planet on slightly different orbits to prevent a collision. <br /><br />The two Mars spacecraft take a circular orbit that passes over the poles while Mars Express takes a more elliptical route. <br /><br />At times, the US craft pass as close as 15 km to each other. <br /><br />The images were obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor operations team at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Malin Space Science Systems. <br /><br />
 
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