MOM sights comet Siding Spring, tweets saying its 'safe and sound'

Bangalore, Oct 21:

Orbiter Mission (

) tweeted and heaved a sigh of relief on Monday after it witnessed comet Siding Spring pass by.

MOM tweeted:

Phew! Experience of a lifetime. Watched the #MarsComet #SidingSpring whizzing past the planet. I'm in my orbit, safe and sound.

— ISRO's Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) October 20, 2014

MOM was closet to the comet when it flew past by the Red Planet. ISRO officials say that MOM may send pictures of the comet and that the data and the images were being processed and the information could be made public in a few days.

Shortly after the comet flew past by the Red Planet, NASA and the European Space Agency issued separate reports saying that their rover and orbiters were safe and were functioning fine.

Hope to catch a comet! Sun has set at Gale Crater; now's my best chance to observe #MarsComet Siding Spring. pic.twitter.com/ipWaKDSe2B

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) October 19, 2014

However MOM witnessed an hour's communication blackout during the comet's fly-by. The comet passed by millions of kilometres away from Earth but soon the information was retrieved from recorded and stored data.

OneIndia News