Comet Siding Spring encountered Mars on October 19, 2014 at a distance of about 140,500 km - the nearest comet flyby of a planet in recorded history. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was able to detect the comet, gather science data, and capture images of the comet as it approached Mars. To help protect MRO from the incoming comet particles, two propulsive maneuvers were performed to position the spacecraft behind Mars at the arrival time of the expected peak particle fluency. This paper documents the strategy that the MRO Navigation Team executed to mitigate risk from the comet particles while allowing scientific observations of the comet flyby.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Navigation Strategy for the Comet Siding Spring Encounter
AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference ; 2015 ; Vail, CO, United States
2015-08-09
Conference paper
No indication
English
Comet Siding Spring Encounters Mars
NTRS | 2014
|Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Navigation
AIAA | 2004
|Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Navigation
NTRS | 2004
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