*Dates and times are in UTC.
Several weeks prior to closest approach
July 2
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) orbit maneuver to put spacecraft behind Mars (1st of 2)
August 5
Odyssey orbit maneuver to put spacecraft behind Mars
August 6
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) CRISM/HiRISE stellar scan to check boresite
August 111st Comet Siding Spring workshop.
1st Comet Siding Spring workshop.
Watch Archived Workshop >>.
September 192nd Comet Siding Spring workshop.
2nd Comet Siding Spring workshop.
Presentations
September 21
MAVEN Orbit Insertion.(September 21, 10pm EDT)
September 24
Opportunity will take a test PanCam image of twilight sky
September 24
India's Mars Orbit Mission (MOM) Orbit Insertion
September 25
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) orbit maneuver to put spacecraft behind Mars (2nd of 2)
October 7
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) HIRISE imaging of comet.
October 8
Curiosity will take a test Mastcam image of the twilight sky
10 days to closest approach
October 9
MAVEN last course correction to put spacecraft behind Mars at time of peak flux.
October 12 and later
Curiosity and Opportunity may image comet at night.
October 13
Curiosity will take test spectral images with Mastcam and Chemcam
October 15
Opportunity will do a dry run of comet imaging, aimed at the comet (although the comet may not be bright enough to detect against the dusty night sky).
5 days to closest approach
October 17
MAVEN will image the comet with the IUVS.
October 17-19
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) (HiRISE, CRISM, CTX) will image the comet.
October 17-19
MAVEN will monitor the Mars upper atmosphere and solar wind (IUVS, SEP, SWIA, SWEA, STATIC, MAG, LPW, NGIMS).
October 17-19
Curiosity may image comet at night using the ChemCam, Mastcam.
2 hours before closest approach
October 19
Opportunity may image the comet with PanCam.
October 19
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) imaging of the comet (CRISM, HiRISE, CTX).
October 19
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) (MCS, MARCI, SHARAD) will monitor Mars' atmosphere.
October 19
Odyssey (THEMIS) imaging of the comet. Thermal IR and visible imaging of the coma.
October 19
MAVEN goes into planned "minimum risk" mode ~45 min prior to Closest Approach. LPW, SEP, MAG continue to operate.
During closest approach
October 19
11:27 a.m.
PT/2:27 p.m. ET/18:27 UT
PT/2:27 p.m. ET/18:27 UT
Comet Siding Spring (C/2013 A1) Closest Approach to Mars at 87,000 miles (139,500 kilometers).
October 19
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) imaging of the comet (CRISM, HiRISE, CTX). Comet nucleus may be a few pixels wide in the image
After closest approach
October 19 closest approach + 20 minutes
Mars will skirt the comet coma.
October 19 closest approach + 90 minutes
Odyssey will take several thermal IR and visible images of the comet and tail
October 19 closest approach + 90 minutes
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) (CRISM and HiRISE) to image the nucleus and CTX rides-along. Other instruments (MCS, MARCI, SHARAD) take observations of Mars' atmosphere to identify atmospheric interactions with comet particles.
October 19 closest approach + 2.5 hours
Curiosity may image comet at night using the ChemCam, Mastcam.
October 19 closest approach + 2.5 hours
MAVEN will leave "minimum risk" mode. Spacecraft and instrument status will be checked over the next orbit, then science observations of Mars will resume, to get "after the comet" observations.
October 19 closest approach + 5 hours
Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter (MRO) (HiRISE, CRISM, CTX) will image the comet.
October 19 closest approach + 10 hours
Opportunity may image the comet using the PanCam.
October 20
Opportunity and Curiosity may image the comet after closest approach.
October 20
Spacecraft will begin to report back to Earth their health and safety status (this schedule is still uncertain on which spacecraft will call home first).
October 20 - 21
Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter (MRO) (MCS, MARCI, SHARAD) monitors the Mars' atmosphere.
October 20 - 21
MAVEN will resume atmospheric science (IUVS, SEP, SWIA, SWEA, STATIC, MAG, LPW, NGIMS)
October 21