NASA funds extension of Mars Odyssey orbiter mission

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 8/25/04 | AP - Pasadena

[NormsRevenge]

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA has extended the mission of the Mars Odyssey orbiter which has been studying and mapping the Red Planet since early 2002 as well as serving as a relay for data from the surface rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Odyssey's primary mission, which cost $297 million, ended Tuesday. The $35 million extension will fund operations through September 2006, and NASA noted that the spacecraft has enough fuel left to operate through the rest of the decade and the following decade at the current rate of consumption.

"Odyssey has accomplished all of its mission-success criteria," said Philip Varghese, Odyssey project manager at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The spacecraft's findings include evidence of abundant frozen water under the surface of the south polar region, a widespread mineral indicating the martian environment has been quite dry, and suggestions that Mars is undergoing climate change. Its instruments have also made the most detailed maps of Mars.

Odyssey also carried the first experiment sent to Mars in preparation for manned missions. It found that radiation levels around the planet, from solar flares and cosmic rays, are two to three times higher than around Earth. A solar flare knocked out the radiation detector in 2003.

The orbiter also helped planners analyze landing sites for the twin rovers that set down on the planet in January and since then has relayed about 85 percent of images and other data sent by the robot vehicles.

Odyssey is now being used to analyze sites for another mission scheduled to land on Mars in 2008 and is monitoring the planet's atmosphere to plan for the arrival of an orbiter in 2006. That craft will use dips into the atmosphere, a process called aerobraking, to adjust its orbit.

Odyssey was launched April 7, 2001, and reached Mars on Oct. 23, 2001. It also used aerobraking to modify its orbit around the planet.

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On the Net: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey

[NormsRevenge]

Check out the images at THEMIS Thermal Emission Imaging System

THEMIS home Here

[NormsRevenge]

Ganges Chasma

This false-color infrared image was taken by the camera system on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft over part of Ganges Chasma in Valles Marineris (approximately 13 degrees S, 318 degrees E). The infrared image has been draped over topography data obtained by Mars Global Surveyor. The color differences in this image show compositional variations in the rocks exposed in the wall and floor of Ganges (blue and purple) and in the dust and sand on the rim of the canyon (red and orange). The floor of Ganges is covered by rocks and sand composed of basaltic lava that are shown in blue. A layer that is rich in the mineral olivine can be seen as a band of purple in the walls on both sides of the canyon, and is exposed as an eroded layer surrounding a knob on the floor. Olivine is easily destroyed by liquid water, so its presence in these ancient rocks suggests that this region of Mars has been very dry for a very long time. The mosaic was constructed using infrared bands 5, 7, and 8, and covers an area approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) on each side. This simulated view is toward the north.

[searchandrecovery]

Thanks, NormsRevenge. I think the Mars mission story is just outstanding. So much information being gathered. Amazing. I check out their website every couple of days to see the pictures.

Anyway, so that chasm picture - what would cause such a clean break? Seems almost vertical. Some kind of fault line?

And on a related front - I don't think we need seti to find other planets with life in the universe. Might be closer than we think. (Mars - man, that planet has clouds, dude).

[NormsRevenge]

I'm not sure if Mars is tectonically similar to earth. at one time maybe, lots of volcanic activity at one time tho.

There is lots of data gathered but lots more needed as we just scratching the surface.

I've watched the images that have been sent back over the years, we need to send rovers to cydonia amongst other places on Mars.

[searchandrecovery]

we need to send rovers to cydonia amongst other places on Mars.

Well, we can agree on that (but, uh, what is cydonia and why is it important?).

Tha ganges chasm kind of looks like a river bed, but then again, different. What would a geologist say?