Official News - page 8

REAL LIFE NEWS: ROSETTA'S MARTIAN FLYBY

by Hazed

The spacecraft Rosetta, on its way to rendezvous with a comet, did a flyby of Mars last weekend and sent back some pictures, taken just a few minutes before the craft reached its closest approach, at a distance of about 625 miles from the surface. The pictures were an important test run for some of the technology Rosetta is carrying.

Rosetta is due to arrive at comet Churumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. If all goes to plan, a lander will detach from the main craft and touch down on the comet.

Take a look at Rosetta's pictures of Mars on the European Space Agency's web site.

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