More like a mission to low Earth orbit.

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In previous missions in Earth orbit, you lost a lot of the mission time because you could not observe when the Earth itself was shining in the telescope.

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He and his two crew mates explained that NASA originally planned for their mission to stay in earth's orbit, like all previous missions.

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And an optical mission to test laser relay capabilities from earth geosynchronous (GEO) orbit will soon follow.

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The 13-tonne mission was initially lifted into a 350km-high orbit above Earth, with the expectation that the probe's big engine would fire twice - first, to raise that orbit, and, second, to set course for Mars.

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Ideally, say advocates of such a mission, Apophis' orbit would need to be changed before 2025 to be sure it misses the Earth.

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