Space Topics: Mars Global Surveyor
The Year in Pictures: 2005
Mars Global Surveyor Images MArs Odyssey
Credit: NASA / JPL / Malin Space Science Systems |
April 21. In April 2005, having already captured many images
of landers on the surface of Mars, Mars
Global Surveyor turned to a new challenge: photographing
the other two operational orbiters at Mars, 2001
Mars Odyssey and Mars Express. With
all of the spacecraft in independent orbits of different shapes and speeds,
targeting the images was a great challenge, but on April 20 and 21 the Mars
Orbiter Camera captured images of both spacecraft.
Drawing of Mars Odyssey as seen from Mars Global Surveyor
Credit: NASA / JPL / Malin Space Science Systems |
In the image of Mars
Odyssey, it is possible to see the long, skinny boom with the Gamma Ray Spectrometer
instrument at its tip, the bright dot of the spacecraft bus and the dish-shaped
high-gain antenna to its upper right, and the darker panel of the tilted solar
array to its lower right. This spacecraft was last seen with human eyes
in 2001, before it was loaded into its launch vehicle.
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