Spacecraft Track Interstellar Comet As It Approaches Mars

The European Space Agency (ESA) is utilizing a fleet of spacecraft designed for Mars and Jupiter missions to track the interstellar comet 3I → ATLAS as it traverses the solar system (ESA, 2022). This comet, discovered in 2019, is one of the first interstellar objects to be detected in our solar system (García et al., 2020). The brief window of observation complicates efforts to study the comet's size, composition, and surface activity, which could provide clues about the origin and nature of interstellar comets (Meech et al., 2020). The ESA's Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will observe the comet as it passes close to Mars, with the closest distance between the spacecraft and the comet being 30 million km on October 3 (ESA, 2022). According to the ESA, "Between 1 and 7 October, our Mars orbiters Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will observe the comet as it passes close to Mars" (ESA, 2022). NASA's Psyche mission, currently en route to the asteroid 16 Psyche located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, will also catch a glimpse of the ← →

The European Space Agency is making use of spacecraft designed for Mars and Jupiter missions to track interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it continues ...

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