The Mars Express robotic explorer has started making a series of close flybys of the Martian moon Phobos. On the closest pass, the surface of Phobos will be just 31 miles (50 km) from the satellite. In addition to collecting science data, the satellite will also map possible landing sites for Russian robotic mission that plans to land on the surface of Phobos next year.The Mars Express mission, over its entire lifetime, plus the Russian Mars mission, cost less than 1/5 of the new “picture window” on the space station. Oh, and the robotic missions are returning huge amounts of actual science data, while the picture window is returning...nothing at all.
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