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Odyssey Mars Probe Lost
Pasadena - Oct 23, 2001 For the third time in two years NASA appears to have lost a spacecraft about Mars. The Mars Odyssey 2001 space probe was to have fired its main engine for 20 minutes at 7.26pm Pacific Time, with confirmation of a successful orbital insertion expected shortly after 7.56pm Pacific Time evening when Odyssey's time delayed signal was to have been reacquired by NASA's Deep Space Network at Goldstone. However, so far no signal has been detected with the fate of the $300 million spacecraft unknown at this time. "The flight team uplinked the sequence of commands that control the orbit insertion on October 15," said Odyssey project manager Matthew Landano in an earlier report. Before going into orbit, the probe's fuel tanks -- the size of two volleyballs -- were pressurized and the hydraulic pipes warmed. Firing the main engine for 20 minutes burnt 262.9 kilograms (580 pounds) of fuel. The probe's initial orbit, was to have been an oval shape, with an orbital period of 19 hours, that was to be gradually reduced in a difficult process known as aerobraking. Eventually, Mars Odyssey 2001 was to have settled into a two-hour circular orbit at an altitude of about 400 kilometers (250 miles). The 725-kilogram (1,600-pound) probe, was launched April 7 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The probe was equipped with a gamma ray spectrometer, which includes a high-energy neutron detector, as well as a thermal-emission imaging system and a Martian radiation environment experiment. These highly sophisticated measuring instruments were to be used by scientists to gather data on the possible presence of water in the Martian crust, at up to one meter (yard) below the surface. The 300-million-dollar (337-million-euro) mission had been considered a critical resumption for Mars exploration by NASA, and was the first new program launched to Mars since the failure of the two 1999 probes, which crashed into the planet's surface through human errors. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Odyssey 2001 Mission Home SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Spirit Heading To 'Home Plate'
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 09, 2006Last week Spirit completed robotic-arm work on "El Dorado." The rover used all three of its spectrometers plus the microscopic imager for readings over the New Year's weekend. |
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