[meteorite-list] Martian orbiter photographs UFO

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri May 20 09:53:33 2005
Message-ID: <99rr81prsv2blt1d0jg6tdnp0aoevrkoca_at_4ax.com>

I'm sorry, did I type UFO? I meant IOO (identified orbiting object)

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07941

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft appears twice in the same frame in this image from the Mars Orbiter
Camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The camera's successful imaging of Odyssey and of the
European Space Agency's Mars Express in April 2005 produced the first pictures of any spacecraft
orbiting a foreign planet taken by another spacecraft orbiting that planet.

Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey are both in nearly circular, near-polar orbits. Odyssey is in
an orbit slightly higher than that of Global Surveyor in order to preclude the possibility of a
collision. However, the two spacecraft occasionally come as close together as 15 kilometers (9
miles).

The images were obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor operations teams at Lockheed Martin Space
System, Denver; JPL and Malin Space Science Systems.

The two views of Mars Odyssey in this image were acquired a little under 7.5 seconds apart as
Odyssey receded from a close flyby of Mars Global Surveyor. The geometry of the flyby (see Figure 1)
and the camera's way of acquiring an image line-by-line resulted in the two views of Odyssey in the
same frame. The first view (right) was taken when Odyssey was about 90 kilometers (56 miles) from
Global Surveyor and moving more rapidly than Global Surveyor was rotating, as seen from Global
Surveyor. A few seconds later, Odyssey was farther away -- about 135 kilometers (84 miles) -- and
appeared to be moving more slowly. In this second view of Odyssey (left), the Mars Orbiter Camera's
field-of-view overtook Odyssey.

The Mars Orbiter Camera can resolve features on the surface of Mars as small as a few meters or
yards across from Mars Global Surveyor's orbital altitude of 350 to 405 kilometers (217 to 252
miles). From a distance of 100 kilometers (62 miles), the camera would be able to resolve features
substantially smaller than 1 meter or yard across.

Mars Odyssey was launched on April 7, 2001, and reached Mars on Oct. 24, 2001. Mars Global Surveyor
left Earth on Nov. 7, 1996, and arrived in Mars orbit on Sept. 12, 1997. Both orbiters are in an
extended mission phase, both have relayed data from the Mars Exploration Rovers, and both are
continuing to return exciting new results from Mars. JPL, a division of the California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, manages both missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.
Received on Fri 20 May 2005 10:00:34 AM PDT