NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft watches comet flyby

Artist's concept of NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The longest-lived robot ever sent to Mars came through its latest challenge in good health, reporting home on schedule after sheltering behind Mars from possible comet dust.

NASA's Mars Odyssey was out of communications with Earth, as planned, while conducting observations of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring on Sunday, Oct. 19, as the comet flew near Mars.

The comet sped within about 88,000 miles (139,500 kilometers) of Mars, equivalent to about one-third of the distance between Earth and Earth's moon.

Mars Odyssey had performed a maneuver on Aug. 5 to adjust the timing of its orbit so that it would be shielded by Mars itself during the minutes, around 1 p.m. PDT (4 p.m. EDT) today, when computer modeling projected a slight risk from high-velocity dust particles in the comet's tail.

"The telemetry received from Mars Odyssey this afternoon confirms not only that the spacecraft is in fine health but also that it conducted the planned observations of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring within hours of the comet's closest approach to Mars," said Odyssey Mission Manager Chris Potts of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., speaking from mission operations center at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

THEMIS

Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring observations were made by the orbiter's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS).

Resulting images are expected in coming days after the data is downlinked to Earth and processed.

THEMIS is also scheduled to record a combined image of the comet and a portion of Mars later this week.

In addition, the Odyssey mission is using the spacecraft's Neutron Spectrometer (NS) and the Russian-made, High Energy Neutron detector (HEND) to assess possible effects on Mars' atmosphere of dust and gas from the comet.

Three NASA Mars orbiters, two Mars rovers and other assets on Earth and in space are studying comet Siding Spring.

This comet is making its first visit this close to the sun from the outer solar system's Oort Cloud, so the concerted campaign of observations may yield fresh clues to our solar system's earliest days more than 4 billion years ago.

Following the comet flyby, operations teams have also confirmed the good health of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter.

Mars Odyssey has worked at the Red Planet longer than any other Mars mission in history.

NASA launched the spacecraft on April 7, 2001, and Mars Odyssey arrived at Mars Oct. 24, 2001.

Besides conducting its own scientific observations, the mission provides a communication relay for robots on the Martian surface.

Comet Siding Spring Buzzes C2013 A1 Mars in Once-in-a-Lifetime Flyby

Credit: SLOOH

Comet Siding Spring C2013 A1 zoomed by Mars today (Oct. 19) in an extremely rare close encounter that scientists billed as a "once-in-a-lifetime" event that may help researchers better understand the earliest days of our solar system.

Comet Siding Spring C2013 A1 came within just 87,000 miles (139,500 kilometers) of the Martian surface at 2:27 p.m. EDT (1827 GMT) today, about one-third of the distance between Earth and the moon.

At the time of closest approach, the comet barreled by at 126,000 mph (203,000 km/h) relative to the Red Planet, NASA officials said.

All seven spacecraft currently operating on or around Mars were scheduled to observe the close shave, with the aim of learning more about comet composition and behaviour.

The US Deep Space Network monitored the NASA Mars satellites currently orbiting Mars.

Credit: SLOOH

Comet Siding Spring C2013 A1 has flown past Mars

Comet Siding Spring has made a close pass with Mars, the Red Planet, flying only 87,000 miles (139,500 kilometers) from the surface. 

Mars is seen as a bright object in these images because of the sun.

Officials monitoring spacecraft orbiting Mars maneuvered them into safe positions on the furthest side of the planet, so that they did not experience any ill affects from the icy wanderer's dust.

An hour after the passing of the comet, observers are awaiting the bombardment of the Mars atmosphere by the debris ejected from the comet's tail.

Mars is, in this image the much brighter object. Siding Spring - here, it's marked in red. 

Credit: ESA/M. Micheli/D. Abreu

This image of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) at 4.8 arcminutes from Mars, as seen on 2014 October 19 at 20:20 UT via ESA's Optical Ground Station, equipped with a 1-meter telescope, on Tenerife, Canary Islands.

North is to the left of the frame. The comet was imaged under poor sky conditions, while it was 17° above the southwestern horizon.

High humidity and strong winds also affected the image quality, giving a "fuzzy" appearance to the nearby stars.