[meteorite-list] Odyssey Orbiter Nears Martian Longevity Record

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-411

Odyssey Orbiter Nears Martian Longevity Record
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
December 09, 2010

PASADENA, Calif. -- By the middle of next week, NASA's Mars Odyssey
orbiter will have worked longer at Mars than any other spacecraft in
history.

Odyssey entered orbit around Mars on Oct. 24, 2001. On Dec. 15, the
3,340th day since that arrival, it will pass the Martian career
longevity record set by its predecessor, Mars Global Surveyor, which
operated in orbit from Sept. 11, 1997, to Nov. 2, 2006.

Odyssey made its most famous discovery -- evidence for copious water ice
just below the dry surface of Mars -- during its first few months, and
it finished its radiation-safety check for future astronauts before the
end of its prime mission in 2004. The bonus years of extended missions
since then have enabled many accomplishments that would not have been
possible otherwise.

"The extra years have allowed us to build up the highest-resolution maps
covering virtually the entire planet," said Odyssey Project Scientist
Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The maps are assemblages of images from the orbiter's Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS) camera, provided and operated by Arizona State
University, Tempe. To mark the approach to the Mars longevity record,
the camera team and NASA prepared a slide show of remarkable images,
posted today at
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/odyssey/images/all-stars.html .

The orbiter's longevity has given Odyssey scientists the opportunity to
monitor seasonal changes on Mars year-to-year, such as the cycle of
carbon-dioxide freezing out of the atmosphere in polar regions during
each hemisphere's winter. "It is remarkable how consistent the patterns
have been from year to year, and that's a comparison that wouldn't have
been possible without our mission extensions," Plaut said.

Odyssey's performance has boosted benefits from other missions, too.
When NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, far
exceeded their own expected lifetimes, Odyssey remained available as the
rover's primary communication relay. Nearly all the science data from
the rovers and NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has reached Earth via Odyssey
relay. Odyssey also became the middle segment of continuous observation
of Martian weather by a series of NASA orbiters: Mars Global Surveyor,
Odyssey, and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which began its science
mission in late 2006.

A continuing partnership between JPL and Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
Denver, operates Odyssey.

"Hundreds of people who built the Odyssey spacecraft here, in addition
to the much smaller crew operating it today, have great pride in seeing
the spacecraft achieve this milestone," said Bob Berry, Odyssey program
manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company.

Odyssey's science triumphs began in early 2002 with detection of
hydrogen just below the surface throughout the planet's high-latitude
regions. Deduction that the hydrogen is in frozen water prompted the
Phoenix mission, which confirmed that fact in 2008.

Investigators at the University of Arizona, Tucson, have headed the
operation of Odyssey's Gamma Ray Spectrometer suite of instruments,
which detected the hydrogen and subsequently mapped the distribution of
several other elements on Mars. Additional science partners are located
at the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, which provided the suite's
high-energy neutron detector, and at Los Alamos National Laboratories,
New Mexico, which provided the neutron spectrometer.

The mission's science goal of checking radiation levels around Mars to
aid planning of future human missions was completed by the Mars
Radiation Environment Experiment, developed at NASA Johnson Space
Center, Houston.

NASA has planned future work for Odyssey, in addition to having the
orbiter continue its own science and its relay service for the Mars
Exploration Rover mission. If required, controllers will adjust
Odyssey's orbit so the spacecraft is in a favorable position for a
communication relay role during the August 2012 landing of NASA's next
Mars rover, Curiosity.

Mars Odyssey, launched April 7, 2001, is managed by JPL, a division of
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate, Washington.
For more about the Mars Odyssey mission, visit:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey .

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Gary Napier 303-971-4012
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver
gary.p.napier at lmco.com

Robert Burnham 480-458-8207
Arizona State University, Tempe
robert.burnham at asu.edu

2010-411