Mars Fleet and Comet Siding Spring

  • Released Thursday, October 9th, 2014
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:50PM
  • ID: 4192

This visualization shows NASA’s fleet of Mars orbiters, landers, and rovers during the planet’s close encounter with Comet Siding Spring. C/2013 A1, better known as Comet Siding Spring, will make a remarkably close pass of Mars on October 19, 2014. At closest approach, Comet Siding Spring will come within 82,000 miles of the Red Planet – just one-third of the distance from the Earth to the Moon. During the flyby, NASA will position its Mars fleet both to protect it from comet dust, and to make observations of the comet and its effects on the upper atmosphere of Mars.

Flying past comet Siding-Spring the Mars orbiting fleet is faded on while Siding Spring passes very close to Mars
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Several landers and orbiting spacraft are shown followed by their position relative to comet Siding Spring

Pulling back from Mars with the orbits of MAVEN and Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos

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NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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