Mars Spacecraft that Could

Take One Minute of your time to marvel at the longevity of the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Since 2001, it's been monitoring seasonal changes on Mars from year to year and making detailed maps of most of the planet. In 2002, the spacecraft detected hydrogen just below the surface throughout Mars' high-latitude regions. The deduction that the hydrogen is in frozen water prompted the launch of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission, which confirmed the theory in 2008. Odyssey also carried the first experiment sent to Mars specifically to prepare for human missions, and found radiation levels around the planet from solar flares and cosmic rays are two to three times higher than around Earth.

Odyssey also has served as a communication relay, handling most of the data sent home by Phoenix and NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Odyssey became the middle link for continuous observation of Martian weather by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

"Odyssey has proved itself to be a great spacecraft, but what really enables a spacecraft to reach this sort of accomplishment is the people behind it," said Gaylon McSmith, Odyssey project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This is a tribute to the whole Odyssey team."

Odyssey will support the 2012 landing of the Mars Science Laboratory and surface operations of that mission. Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, will assess whether its landing area has had environmental conditions favorable for microbial life and preserving evidence about whether life has existed there. The rover will carry the largest, most advanced set of instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the Martian surface.

"The Mars program clearly demonstrates that world-class science coupled with sound and creative engineering equals success and longevity," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Other recent NASA spacecraft at Mars include the Mars Global Surveyor that began orbiting the Red Planet in 1997. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed on Mars in January 2004. They have been exploring for six years, far surpassing their original 90-day mission. Phoenix landed May 25, 2008, farther north than any previous spacecraft to the planet's surface. The mission's biggest surprise was the discovery of perchlorate, an oxidizing chemical on Earth that is food for some microbes, but potentially toxic for others. The solar-powered lander completed its three-month mission and kept working until sunlight waned two months later. MRO arrived at Mars in 2006 on a search for evidence that water persisted on the planet's surface for a long period of time.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Odyssey
• mars
• nasa
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• earth
• phobos
• exploration
• black
• holes
• mercury
• venus
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[TheFireHorseUK]

@BenThomasFoster “Why arn't we already there?”

That’s because there are still men who believe that we should still be digging a ditch with an arse bone of a giraffe and worshipping sky-daddies....

Just think of the advancement of the human race if it wasn’t for the ball’n’chain of religion...

[mypokemonisawesome]

@TheFireHorseUK Soooooooooooo right dude

Religion= useless

Science=useful

[PhotoShopChannel]

@xzaz2 Religion and culture has a bit to play in war. no doubt.

[xzaz2]

@PhotoShopChannel It is, TheFireHorseUK is blaming religion for no cause, money and war on earth are the biggest problems...

[xzaz2]

@TheFireHorseUK What the f has religion to do with that? NOTHING. Tell me in one way how religion stopped the space-travel??

[YppolitKorrektny]

Очень красиво! Вода есть! 555+++ Хочу туда! :)

[MrLewooz]

@mypokemonisawesome water?

[PhotoShopChannel]

@TheFireHorseUK we all know religion sucks but asking “Why arn't we already there?” isn't it obvious it's the cost?

[Slipe032]

@mypokemonisawesome

Yeah..I remember the logic of science when it stated the Earth was flat....That was what??Around 1492...You know, when they told Columbus he would fall off the Earth...However, the Bible stated in a book dating back to 2500BC...That the Earth was a sphere than hung in the midst of nothing!! ..Yeah..Science...A real winner there buddy!!....With all these Educated SCIENTIST out there..One would think the world would be getting better..Uhh..NOPE...!!!

[mypokemonisawesome]

If there really were water on Mars, I wonder how it taste like.

[MasterOfSpacetime]

Really you all behave like virusus and I am your host and I will not let you off the planet to spread like a virus. you have been contained here for extermination. You all have been placed under quarintine. Use your brain and understand this simple concept the quicker the better. The more you resist the more painful it will be for you and I suffer it well.