{"id":566344,"date":"2026-07-30T05:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T05:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/566344\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T05:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T05:06:13","slug":"nasas-psyche-teams-up-with-esas-mars-express-for-a-coordinated-photoshoot-at-the-red-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/566344\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Psyche teams up with ESA’s Mars Express for a coordinated photoshoot at the Red Planet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Both spacecraft captured stunning images of Noachis Terra, an ancient cratered region of Mars.\n <\/p>\n

May 15 was a date to remember for both the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA<\/a>. On that day NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft<\/a>, headed toward a metal-rich asteroid of the same name, met ESA\u2019s Mars Express during the former’s stopover at the Red Planet. Both spacecraft turned on their imagers to make coordinated observations of the same patch of the planet. Mars Express, launched on 2 June 2003, arrived at the Red Planet in December 2003. And since beginning operation in 2004, the ESA spacecraft has mapped the chemical composition of Mars\u2019 atmosphere and studied its inner moon Phobos. Psyche, launched on 13 October 2023, is likely to arrive at the metal-rich asteroid in the summer of 2029.<\/p>\n

Psyche was flying by Mars to use the planet\u2019s gravity to gain extra speed and adjust its trajectory on its way towards the metal-rich asteroid, which scientists believe could offer a one-of-kind look inside the interior of rocky planets like Earth. Such a flyby, known as a gravity-assist flyby<\/a>, saves fuel, making interplanetary journeys more efficient. Looking to make the most of the opportunity presented by the flyby, teams working on both missions planned their observations weeks in advance so that the two spacecraft could image the same region of Mars as close in time as possible. In one of the two coordinated observations, the spacecraft imaged a part of Noachis Terra, one of the oldest known regions on the Martian terrain.<\/p>\n

\"Captured
\nCaptured by the multispectral imager instrument on NASA\u2019s Psyche mission, this is an enhanced-color mosaic created from four individual images acquired on May 15, 2026, during the spacecraft\u2019s flyby of Mars. (Image Source: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU)<\/p>\n

The spacecraft\u2019s imagers captured the Martian surface from very different altitudes and viewing angles. Mars Express observed the region from only about 3,728 miles above the surface at an inclined angle, while Psyche photographed the surface from about 25,476 miles above Mars, looking almost straight down, just 1 hour and 50 minutes later. In the images displayed side-by-side below, Noachis Terra’s craters can be seen filled with sand dunes that are shown in dark blue. Besides being excellent visual comparisons, the images could help with checking and adjusting Psyche’s camera to ensure that it performs optimally when it reaches its target.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"(L)
\n(L) Image of a part of Noachis Terra on Mars captured by Mars Express. (R) The same region captured by Psyche 1 hour 50 minutes later. (Mars Express image: ESA\/DLR\/FU Berlin; Psyche image: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe imager performed brilliantly, delivering some rarely seen views of the Red Planet,\u201d said Jim Bell, the Psyche imager instrument lead at Arizona State University in Tempe, in a statement<\/a>. Besides ESA\u2019s Mars Express, NASA compared the Psyche images with those of NASA\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter,\u00a0Curiosity and Perseverance rovers<\/a>, and the United Arab Emirates Mars Mission\u2019s Hope Orbiter. \u00a0<\/p>\n

More on Starlust\u00a0<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft captures stunning views of Mars on its way to the metal-rich asteroid. See pics\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Data from NASA’s MAVEN orbiter shows Mars gets Earth-like auroras\u2014here’s how<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Both spacecraft captured stunning images of Noachis Terra, an ancient cratered region of Mars. May 15 was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[85,46,141],"class_list":["post-566344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}