ESA Fly-by Observation of Phobos

This mosaic image is composed by 53 pictures obtained by the Super Resolution Channel (or SRC, a part of the High Resolution Stereo Camera experiment) on board ESA’s Mars Express.

The SRC images covered 70% of the moon's surface. The remaining area is filled with 16 images previously obtained by NASA’s Viking mission. The mean resolution is 12 m/pixel.

Credits: ESA/ DLR (S. Semm, M. Wählisch, K.Willner)/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)


This image of Phobos’s surface was obtained by the Super Resolution Channel (or SRC, a part of the High Resolution Stereo Camera experiment) on board ESA’s Mars Express on 3 August 2008 (orbit 5889).

The distance from the moon’s centre was 656 km, and the image resolution is 6 m/pixel. The original image has been corrected for mirror distortion.

Mars Express encountered Phobos last night, smoothly skimming past at just 67 km, the closest any manmade object has ever approached Mars’ enigmatic moon.

The data collected could help unlock the origin of not just Phobos but other ‘second generation’ moons.

Phobos Porous
Something is not right about Phobos. It looks like a solid object but previous flybys have shown that it is not dense enough to be solid all the way through. Instead, it must be 25-35% porous.

This has led planetary scientists to believe that it is little more than a ‘rubble pile’ circling Mars. Such a rubble pile would be composed of blocks both large and small resting together, with possibly large spaces between them where they do not fit easily together.

Exquisite Data
Last night’s flyby was close enough to give scientists their most exquisite data yet about the gravitational field of Phobos. Mars Express locked onto the radio signal from Earth at around 21:20 CET (20:20 UT).

The radio frequency oscillators on the ground are 100 000 times more stable than those on the spacecraft, so for this experiment, which required the best precision possible, the signal was sent up to Mars Express and then returned by the spacecraft to the ground.

Credits: ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

ESA's ATV Jules Verne operations team wins prestigious UK aeronautics prize

The UK's Royal Aeronautical Society has awarded its top Gold Medal Team prize to ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle operations team, in recognition of their achievement in operating ATV Jules Verne during its 2008 mission to the International Space Station.

The Gold Medal is conferred for work of outstanding achievement in aerospace.
ATV Jules Verne, ESA's first resupply and reboost vehicle, was launched in March 2008 and on 3 April became the first vessel to perform a fully automated docking with the International Space Station (ISS).

During the vessel's five-month attached phase, Jules Verne delivered over 2200 kg of vital cargo, including food, clothes, equipment, fuel, water and oxygen, to the astronauts on the ISS.

The extremely accurate automated docking demonstrated Europe's world-class industrial capabilities and the superlative skill of the scientists, engineers and technicians who contributed to the construction, preparation, launch and operation.

"I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of the Agency and everyone across borders and organisations who worked long and hard to make ATV an outstanding success. The ATV's design and construction, the superb automated docking technology and her flawless first mission all tell a truly European success story," said Bob Chesson, Head of ESA's Human Spaceflight Operations Department.

In flight, ATV operations are managed by a combined ESA/CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales) mission operations team based at ESA’s ATV Control Centre, Toulouse, France. These experts are assisted by a network of support teams from ESA's Human Spaceflight, Operations and Technology Directorates, at CNES, and at dozens of industrial partner companies from 10 European countries under the prime contractorship of EADS Space Transportation, France.