Flight controllers for NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft report the martian radiation environment experiment began gathering science data today after their troubleshooting efforts successfully reestablished communications with the instrument. Engineers have been working since late February, trying a variety of techniques to communicate with the instrument, which stopped working in August. The results of their tests indicate the problem may be related to a memory error in the onboard software of the radiation instrument.
March 12th, 2002
Mars Odyssey: A Stellar Performance
Scientists gathered at the 33rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference to review increasing amounts of data streaming out of NASA
March 8th, 2002
Students to Release First Mars Image, Science Findings From Next Generation Arizona State University
A new generation of Mars student scientists will release their first results at a press briefing scheduled for noon EST (10 a.m. Arizona Time) on Wednesday, March 20 at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University. Eighteen students, including 11 sixth and seventh graders from Danvers, Illinois, and 7 high school students from Nogales, Arizona, will talk about their experiences and show their results as the first of thousands of participants in NASA’s Mars Student Imaging Project. The project is a NASA-funded science education program that allows elementary, middle and high school classes to do real-life planetary exploration and study using NASA’s Mars Odyssey’s Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) visible light camera.
March 6th, 2002
Odyssey Detects Signs of More Martian Ice NewsFactor Network
Not that Michelle Kwan should join NASA, but it would appear that the surface of Mars has a lot more frozen water than previously thought. Initial data from NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which began its mapping mission last week, include tentative identification of significant, but as yet unquantified, amounts of frozen water. Whether that means frozen puddles and ponds or ice crystals mixed into the top layer of soil remains to be seen. “We’re actually detecting a deficit of neutrons emerging from the surface, and just about the only thing that can cause that is hydrogen atoms,” Jeffrey Plaut, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s deputy project scientist for the Odyssey mission, told NewsFactor.
March 3rd, 2002
Odyssey Helps Plot Mars Exploration Plans
NASA’s Odyssey spacecraft is putting Mars on the chart. Global mapping of the distant, dusty, and baffling world is underway, with first results from Mars Odyssey helping to sharpen future robotic exploration plans, and may hasten the day when human explorers reach out for the red planet. Early looks by the Mars orbiting craft suggest that high amounts of hydrogen exist below surface level in the south polar region of the planet. That hydrogen is likely in the form of water ice, scientists speculate. If so, that frozen layer could, quite literally, put life on ice – a cryo-preserved abode for Mars biology. Moreover, water ice found prevalent across Mars means that expeditionary crews of the 21st century would find a “user-friendly” world – a planet far easier to explore in a sustained and more expansive way.
March 1st, 2002
Mars Odyssey’s First Science Briefing
Mission managers are ready to publicly share the first images and science results from NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey, which is currently in orbit around the red planet. A briefing is scheduled for 2 p.m. EST Friday, March 1, at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California.
March 1st, 2002
A World Of Ice Beneath The Rust
Scientists today unveiled maps that detail the location of hydrogen, that may indicate water-ice, just below Mars’ surface. The maps are based on data from a neutron spectrometer built at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and flown aboard NASA’s Mars Odyssey now in orbit around the Red planet. The data are supported by simultaneous measurements made using the Mars Odyssey’s gamma-ray spectrometer.
March 1st, 2002
Nasa’s Mars Odyssey Spacecraft Unveils Early Science Results
Initial science data from NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which began its mapping mission last week, portend some tantalizing findings by the newest Martian visitor, including possible identification of significant amounts of frozen water. “We are delighted with the quality of data we’re seeing,” said Dr. Steve Saunders, Odyssey project scientist at JPL. “We’ll use it to build on what we’ve learned from Mars Global Surveyor and other missions. Now we may actually see water rather than guessing where it is or was. And with the thermal images we are able to examine surface geology from a new perspective.” “These preliminary Odyssey observations are the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of the science results that are soon to come, so stay tuned,” said Dr. Jim Garvin, lead scientist of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
March 1st, 2002
First Ever Night Images of Mars Released
The first ever night image of Mars was released by NASA today during a press conference that marked a promising new era of discovery at the Red Planet.
February 26th, 2002
Odyssey Unveils A ‘New Mars’
Let the Odyssey begin! That is the theme underscoring the excitement shared by scientists analyzing new data relayed from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft as it orbits the red planet. However, Mars Odyssey investigators remain tight-lipped about what the spacecraft is seeing, offering only subtle hints regarding the probe’s scientific sleuthing. Early findings from NASA’s Mars Odyssey are to be detailed Friday at a science briefing, held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.