European probe passes Mars
Mars images captured
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Sunday, 25, Feb 2007 01:22
Scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) have expressed relief after the Rosetta space probe successfully swung around Mars and onto a new trajectory after taking images of the new planet.
The probe, which is intended to intercept the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet in 2014, has been involved in a game of "cosmic billiards" designed to give the probe enough momentum to examine asteroids and the comet in detail over the course of its seven-year flight plan.
Although the Rosetta probe's mission still has some way to go, the ESA states that the mission so far appears to be going "exactly to plan".
David Southwood, the ESA's director of science, expressed his gratitude to those in charge of the mission and described the milestone event as "only the beginning".
"Today we have reached another milestone on the way to finding an answer to questions such as whether life on Earth began with the help of comets," he said.
The Rosetta space probe - launched in 2004 - will now head back to Earth for another swing-by this November, before passing through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in September 2008. It will then return to Earth for another swing-by in November 2009.
Discovered in 1969, the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet orbits the sun once every 6.5 years and it is classified as a dusty comet, similar to famous Halley's comet.