NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft has delayed its first photo shoot of the Red Planet until at least Tuesday after scientists decided to slow the spacecraft’s entry into the atmosphere, a mission official said Sunday. The slowing is not the result of any problems with the unmanned probe that reached Mars and entered orbit last Tuesday, said mission manager David Spencer of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
October 29th, 2001
‘Live From Mars’ Webcast On October 30
Tune in Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 10am Pacific time for “Live from Mars,” an educational program airing on NASA TV and many PBS stations nationwide. The program, also being webcast from JPL, will explain Mars Odyssey’s orbit insertion and its future science mission. Odyssey team members will also discuss how this mission fits in with NASA’s larger Mars exploration program.
October 25th, 2001
Mars Odyssey Satellite Provides Link For Rover In 2003
A collective sigh of relief could be heard around the corridors of Cornell University’s Space Sciences Building late Tuesday night when the Mars Odyssey spacecraft went into orbit around Mars. The main reason for the jubilation: The small robotic spacecraft will be the key communications link for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission in 2003.
October 25th, 2001
Odyssey reaches orbit
An exultant NASA boasted Wednesday that it “hit a bull’s-eye” after its Mars Odyssey spacecraft slipped flawlessly into orbit around the Red Planet. The space agency’s two previous Mars missions, both in 1999, were humiliating failures.
October 25th, 2001
UH scientists jazzed about Mars trip Honolulu Star-Bulletin
University of Hawaii planetary scientists are relieved and elated that NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is orbiting around the Red Planet. “We are eagerly awaiting the first data coming back,” said Peter Mouginis-Mark, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology professor and researcher. The spacecraft’s successful orbit late yesterday after traveling 93 million miles through space was cheered after two previous NASA satellites to Mars failed. “We’re just really excited about getting access to some of the data sets,” Mouginis-Mark said. The two instruments aboard, a thermal infrared camera and a gamma ray spectrometer, will be tested in the next month but real data isn’t expected until about New Year’s, he said.
October 24th, 2001
Mars Spacecraft Orbit Thrills NASA
NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft circled the Red Planet on Wednesday on its first full day in orbit, two years after the space agency suffered back-to-back failures by Mars missions.
October 24th, 2001
Mars Odyssey Swings Around the Red Planet
The Mars Odyssey spacecraft succeeded Tuesday night in one of the most tricky and critical parts of its mission by slipping into orbit around the Red Planet. Odyssey emerged from behind Mars for the first time at about 10:56 p.m. ET after 20 minutes of planned but tense silence enforced by Mars itself, which blocked radio signals from reaching Earth.
October 24th, 2001
NASA’s Odyssey Spacecraft Enters Orbit Around Mars
NASA’s Odyssey spacecraft slipped into orbit around Mars on Tuesday, 200 days after it left Earth at a speed of more than 13,000 mph to search for signs of water on the red planet.
October 24th, 2001
Mars spacecraft success
A spacecraft has successfully entered orbit around Mars, to the jubilation of scientists and the relief of the American space agency Nasa. The last time Nasa tried to put a probe into orbit around the Red Planet it was a dismal failure but researchers are saying that the success, and promise, of Mars Odyssey will make up for past losses.
October 24th, 2001
Mars Odyssey Mission Status
Flight controllers for NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey mission report the spacecraft is in excellent health and is in a looping orbit around Mars of 18 hours and 36 minutes. The navigation proved to be precise. “We were aiming for a point 300 kilometers (186.5 miles) above Mars and we hit that point within one kilometer (.6 miles),” reports Bob Mase, the Mars Odyssey lead navigator at JPL. “Because of the excellent main engine burn, we will not need to do any more maneuvers to adjust the orbit before we begin aerobraking on Friday.”