Close Encounters Of The Mars Kind

Lab_rat0 writes "Never again in our lifetimes will the Red Planet be so spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. This article at EliteGeek has more details. According to Agg over at OCAU, this is probably the reason for all the Mars probes launched over the last few months."

Re:Does this have a practical purpose?

[Ieshan]

If you read the fucking story, you'd note that the *poster* says he thinks that Nasa has been launching probes (they've launched two to Mars in recent months, rememeber?) to take advantage of this phenomenon. Launching them on "the day" doesn't really accomplish anything, because by the time your probe is launched, Mars is already heading farther away (remember, probes take longer than a day to get to Mars?).

Re:Does this have a practical purpose?

[Osty]

Is there going to be a Mars probe launched on this date of closest approach

Launching a mission on the date of closest approach would be poor timing. To take advantage of this, missions would need to be launched prior to that date (how long before can be figured out, but I don't know the data to do so). If you launch on the day when Mars and Earth are closest, you'll immediately begin chasing Mars and the trip will not be optimal. If instead you launch before hand, you're travelling towards mars while it's travelling towards you. The rate of movement may be so minimal that it won't make a difference, but I don't know.

Re:Probably?

[MarcQuadra]

But it's NOT the best time to send something to Mars. It would have been best to launch something about a year and a half ago, when mars and earth were moving towards each other, and have the probe REACH Mars when it starts getting farther away.

Jeez

[LooseChanj]

"According to Agg over at OCAU, this is probably the reason for all the Mars probes launched over the last few months."

Does this really need to be said?

Azimuth?

[Anonymous Coward]

At the beginning of August, Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

I would have thought, whatever its azimuth is at any given time, there it is already.