[meteorite-list] NASA Mars Orbiter Repositioned to Phone Home Mars Landing

[Ron Baalke]

July 24, 2012

Dwayne Brown 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1726 
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

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

RELEASE: 12-255

NASA MARS ORBITER REPOSITIONED TO PHONE HOME MARS LANDING

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has successfully 
adjusted its orbital location to be in a better position to provide 
prompt confirmation of the August landing of the Curiosity rover. 

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft carrying Curiosity can 
send limited information directly to Earth as it enters Mars' 
atmosphere. Before the landing, Earth will set below the Martian 
horizon from the descending spacecraft's perspective, ending that 
direct route of communication. Odyssey will help to speed up the 
indirect communication process. 

NASA reported during a July 16 news conference that Odyssey, which 
originally was planned to provide a near-real-time communication link 
with Curiosity, had entered safe mode July 11. This situation would 
have affected communication operations, but not the rover's landing. 
Without a repositioning maneuver, Odyssey would have arrived over the 
landing area about two minutes after Curiosity landed. 

A spacecraft thruster burn Tuesday lasting about six seconds has 
nudged Odyssey about six minutes ahead in its orbit. Odyssey now is 
operating normally, and confirmation of Curiosity's landing is 
expected to reach Earth at about 10:31 p.m. PDT Aug. 5, as originally 
planned. 

"Information we are receiving indicates the maneuver has been 
completed as planned," said Gaylon McSmith, Mars Odyssey project 
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, 
Calif. "Odyssey has been working at Mars longer than any other 
spacecraft, so it is appropriate that it has a special role in 
supporting the newest arrival." 

Two other Mars orbiters, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and 
the European Space Agency's Mars Express, also will be in position to 
receive radio transmissions from MSL during its descent. However, 
they will be recording information for later playback. Only Odyssey 
can relay information immediately. 

Odyssey arrived at Mars in 2001. In addition to its own scientific 
observations, it has served as a communications relay for NASA's 
Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers and the Phoenix lander. Spirit and 
Phoenix are no longer operational. Odyssey and MRO will provide 
communication relays for Curiosity during the rover's two-year prime 
mission. 

Odyssey and MSL, with its Curiosity rover, are managed by JPL for 
NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Curiosity was 
designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Odyssey spacecraft is 
operated by JPL and Lockheed Martin in Denver. Lockheed Martin Space 
Systems in Denver built Odyssey. 

For more information about Mars Odyssey, visit: 

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey 

For information about the Curiosity landing and other NASA Mars 
missions, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/mars 
	
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