Now that the Mars Odyssey spacecraft has returned its first pictures, showing that its cameras work, it officially joins a long list of spacecraft that have studied whether or not water does or ever did exist at or near the surface of the Red Planet. But what will Odyssey do that hasn’t already been done? And why do we need yet another robotic probe orbiting Mars? Shouldn’t we be sending geologists by now? And hey, isn’t the real question, is there life on Mars?
November 26th, 2001
Mars Odyssey Encounters Polar Vortex
NASA’s Mars Odyssey has encountered a strange, unexpected phenomenon as it slips over the red planet’s north polar region. An intense polar vortex has been detected, causing Mars’ atmosphere to be less dense than predicted for that area. Likened to a jet stream on Earth, the baffling high-latitude, planet-circling vortex is being carefully eyed by scientists. To what degree the newly found vortex alters the tempo of aerobraking is being evaluated.
November 14th, 2001
Mars Odyssey Snaps First Visible-light Image
This picture shows both a visible and a thermal infrared image taken by the thermal emission imaging system on NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft on November 2, 2001. The images were taken as part of the ongoing calibration and testing of the camera system as the spacecraft orbited Mars on its 13th revolution of the planet.
November 13th, 2001
Mars Odyssey Enters Main Aerobreaking Phase
NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft has now entered the main aerobraking phase of the mission. “The initial phase of aerobraking has gone exceedingly well. By skimming through the upper reaches of the Mars atmosphere during each orbit, we have reduced our orbital period by more than three hours in the past two weeks,” said David A. Spencer, the Odyssey mission manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Odyssey’s orbital period, the time required for the spacecraft to complete one revolution in its orbit around Mars, is currently 15 hours.
November 2nd, 2001
NASA’s Mars “Odyssey” Craft Relays First Image National Geographic News
NASA scientists are studying the first picture of the red planet beamed down from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The test thermal image shows a 1,300-mile-wide (2,400-kilometer-wide) swath of the south pole, including portions of its frozen cap of water and carbon dioxide ice.
November 1st, 2001
Odyssey’s First Look At Mars
This spectacular first image of Mars from the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is just a hint of what’s to come, said Dr. Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator for Space Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “After we get Odyssey into its final orbit it will be much closer to Mars than when it took this image, and we’ll be able to tell whether or not there are any hot springs on Mars, places where liquid water may be close to the surface. If there are any such locations they would be places we might like to explore on future missions.”
November 1st, 2001
Water, water somewhere – we think – on Mars The Christian Science Monitor
The Odyssey spacecraft, now settling into orbit around Mars, will be hunting for water – the key nutrient for past or present life. But the spacecraft can neither see nor smell its quarry. How will Odyssey scientists know when they have found it? This part of the mission is an exercise in indirect detection. Instead of looking for water itself, a suite of instruments will look for gamma rays and neutrons emitted by hydrogen. The Odyssey team assumes that hydrogen at or near the Martian surface probably will be locked in water molecules. It’s the “H” in “H2O.”
October 31st, 2001
Odyssey’s First Picture Released, Exceeds Expectations
The first image of Mars from NASA’s Odyssey spacecraft was released today, showing a strip of the Red Planet as seen by the craft’s infrared camera and showing mission managers that the camera works as planned. The camera, one of two onboard Odyssey, measures heat instead of visible light. “The image exceeded our expectations,” said Greg Mehall, lead engineer for the instrument at Arizona State University. “Everything looked very, very good. The instrument’s health and telemetry looked good.”
October 31st, 2001
Mars Odyssey’s First Look at Mars Is All Treat, No Trick
NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey gave mission managers a real treat this Halloween with its first look at the red planet. It’s a thermal infrared image of the martian southern hemisphere that captures the south polar carbon dioxide ice cap at a temperature of about minus 120 C (minus 184 F). The image, taken as part of the calibration and testing process for the instrument, shows the nighttime temperatures of Mars, demonstrating the “night-vision” capability of the camera system to observe Mars even when the surface is in darkness.
October 30th, 2001
Odyssey’s First Picture of Mars Taken but Not Released
The Mars Odyssey spacecraft took its first photograph of Mars Tuesday, a “thermal infrared” picture that shows differences in heat on the Red Planet. The image is expected be released later this week after it has been processed, according to a NASA press release. No firm release date was set.