One space station drops into the ocean and another rises in the sky. A probe lands on an asteroid while a second bids farewell from deep space. A tourist goes into orbit. A NASA chief calls it quits. These are just some of the big stories that came from the heavens in the year 2001, which witnessed a dramatic expansion in our scientific understanding and a sobering contraction in space funding.
December 27th, 2001
Mars Odyssey Mission Status
Flight controllers of NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey mission report that the aerobraking phase is proceeding right on schedule and should be completed in early January. During the aerobraking phase of the mission, the spacecraft is controlled so it skims the upper reaches of the martian atmosphere on each orbit, to reduce the vehicle’s speed. Today, Odyssey’s orbital period is three hours and 15 minutes, compared with the initial 18-and-a-half hours when the spacecraft first entered orbit in October. The orbital period is the time required to complete one revolution around the planet.
December 21st, 2001
Three Spacecraft Detect Huge Energy Burst in Distant Cosmos
Three spacecraft, including one at Mars, teamed up to make a unique deep-space observation of a colossal energy burst. The Earth-orbiting satellite BeppoSAX, the solar-spying Ulysses, and NASA’s Mars Odyssey combined to detect a brief yet intense gamma ray burst. The trio of observations was the first of its kind. With three observations, scientists can “triangulate” the location and distance of an object. The accuracy of the measurements becomes greater when the distance between the crafts grows.
December 17th, 2001
If Santa Were a Martian
If Santa Claus were a martian, he’d be in for one bumpy ride. That’s the assessment of navigators and engineers controlling the flight of NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft as it currently flies four times daily above the north polar region of Mars. “If he were flying above the North Pole of Mars, my advice to Santa would be ‘Hang tight onto your reins,'” said Odyssey navigator John C. Smith. “You could be in for a rough ride.” In the midst of aerobraking maneuvers that are lowering the spacecraft’s orbit around Mars, the Odyssey team has discovered an unexpected and somewhat unpredictable north polar atmospheric disturbance that is making the job a real adventure, Smith said.
December 15th, 2001
Vangelis: Music for the Mars Odyssey Mission
The music on this web site was created by Vangelis, as art of a longer composition that he calls “Mythodea: Music for NASA’s Mars Odyssey Mission.” Mars Odyssey team members wanted to know more, so we asked Vangelis a few questions about his personal connection to Mars and music.
December 14th, 2001
New Signs of Water on Mars Create Hope of Great Discovery
The Mars Odyssey spacecraft has uncovered preliminary yet tantalizing evidence for water near the surface of Mars and away from the permanently frozen north polar ice cap. Scientists already know there is water ice in the polar cap. But water ice near the surface in warmer regions of the planet would be a remarkable and long-sought finding that would have broad implications in the search for extraterrestrial life and for the possibility of human exploration of Mars.
December 14th, 2001
First finding for Mars Odyssey
The Mars Odyssey (MO) spacecraft has made its first significant discovery: it has detected large deposits of hydrogen – possibly water – near the Red Planet’s poles. American space agency (Nasa) scientists said they were excited by the initial indications of hydrogen deposits, describing the readings sent back as clearer, more definite and much earlier than had been expected.
December 13th, 2001
Mars Odyssey Navigates Atmosphere
As NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft neared completion Wednesday of its 100th orbit of the Red Planet, scientists had to contend with a surprisingly fickle Martian atmosphere in guiding and slowing the robotic probe. Odyssey entered orbit around Mars on Oct. 23. Since then, scientists have guided the spacecraft on a series of controlled skims through the atmosphere, using the drag provided by the carbon dioxide-rich shroud to slow the spacecraft and shape its orbit. From orbit to orbit, however, scientists have discovered wider than expected swings in the density of the Martian atmosphere as the probe passes over the planet at varying latitudes, longitudes and altitudes. The changes in density seen so far have been up to 100 percent and have been most dramatic over the north pole.
December 13th, 2001
First finding for Mars Odyssey
The Mars Odyssey (MO) spacecraft has made its first significant discovery: it has detected large deposits of hydrogen – possibly water – near the Red Planet’s poles. Reporting MO’s preliminary observations, scientists said the first pass by the probe’s neutron spectrometer had revealed evidence of the element in soil at high latitudes. “It is big,” Bill Feldman, of Los Alamos National Laboratory, said of the strength of the signal picked up by Odyssey. The results indicate large amounts of hydrogen on the surface, a likely sign of water-ice. The observations “are precisely what you would expect for a very hydrogen-rich environment”, Feldman said.
December 1st, 2001
Odyssey Down To 10 Hour Orbit
Flight controllers for NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft report that Odyssey has reduced its orbit period to just under 10 hours. The orbit period is the time it takes the spacecraft to make one revolution around the planet. During each aerobraking pass, when the spacecraft skims the atmosphere to alter its orbit, Odyssey’s closest approach, known as the periapsis, is just 103 kilometers (64 miles) above the Martian surface. Its farthest point from the planet, known as the apoapsis, is now 15,300 kilometers (9,500 miles).