登录
 机构网站
  1. 首页
  2. 情报产品
  3. 快讯详情

《Mars Odyssey: Record-Breaking Mission to Mars》

  • 来源专题：中国科学院紫金山天文台科技信息监测服务
  • 编译者： zhoubz
  • 发布时间：2016-04-11

  • NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft passes above Mars' south pole in this artist's concept illustration. The spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since October 24, 2001. The spacecraft serves as a vital relay for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. [Related: Mars Rover Curiosity Landing Coverage]

    Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech For more than a decade, Mars Odyssey has been circling the Red Planet. The NASA spacecraft broke a record in 2010 for being the longest-serving piece of machinery to work at Mars.

    Mars Odyssey has been making discoveries of its own – such as finding extensive water ice under the surface of Mars — but it also plays an important part in the ever-growing network of Martian rovers. It has served as a communications relay for the now-dead Spirit rover and current Opportunity and Curiosity rovers. Odyssey is also expected to assist with the 2018 European-Russian ExoMars rover mission.

    Channeling Clarke and sailing to Mars.

    Because Mars Odyssey was launching in 2001, NASA chose to name its orbiter after the book "2001: A Space Odyssey," which also spawned a movie in 1968 just ahead of the Apollo moon landings that began a year later. According to NASA, author Arthur C. Clarke (who was still alive at the time) "enthusiastically endorsed" the name for the mission.

    Mapping was one of the main goals for the $297-million spacecraft. Odyssey was supposed to look at the chemical and mineralogical composition of Mars' surface in visual and infrared wavelengths. Additionally, it was supposed to keep an eye out for hydrogen (a likely indicator of water ice) and serve as a communications relay for the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that would land on Mars in 2004.

    The 1,600-pound Odyssey launched April 7, 2001, without major incident and reached Mars on Oct. 23, 2001. To finalize its orbit, Odyssey used an "aerobraking" technique pioneered at the Red Planet by Mars Global Surveyor in 1997.

    Essentially, Odyssey gradually used the friction of the Martian atmosphere to slow itself down. That maneuver saves on fuel and overall mission cost. This process, which took several weeks, put Odyssey into its final orbit in January.

192浏览量
原文链接
相关报告

  • 《Mars Odyssey marks 15 years since launch》
    • 来源专题：中国科学院紫金山天文台科技信息监测服务
    • 编译者：zhoubz
    • 发布时间：2016-04-11
    • On April 7, 2001, NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft launches into space on its seven-month journey to Mars. (Click for full view.) Image Credit: NASA NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, which has relayed data from the Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity rovers on the Red Planet’s surface, and also found evidence for the presence of water ice close to Mars’ surface in various locations, is marking the 15th anniversary of its launch on April 7, 2001. Launched on a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the orbiter was named in honor of Arthur C. Clarke’s popular science fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, a choice supported by Clarke (1917-2008). Artist’s concept of 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft over Syrtis Major Planum. Image Credit: NASA/JPL Less than seven months after launch, on October 24, 2001, Mars Odyssey arrived at its destination, firing its main engine to enter Martian orbit. Over the next three months, the orbiter embarked on what mission team members describe as an “aerobraking phase”, in which various controlled maneuvers were conducted within Mars’ upper atmosphere to attain the ideal orbit for mapping the planet. While Odyssey’s primary mission was completed in 2004, multiple mission extensions have kept it active for a decade and a half. It became the longest active Mars spacecraft in December 2010. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers, both of which arrived on the Red Planet in 2004, relied on Odyssey to transmit more than 90 percent of the data they collected back to Earth. The Curiosity rover, which landed in 2012, relays its data through both Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. “Every day for more than five years, Odyssey has been extending its record for how long a spacecraft can keep working on Mars,” Odyssey Project Manager David Lehman of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said upon its reaching the December 2010 milestone. “The spacecraft is remarkably healthy, and we have enough fuel to last for several more years.” More than five years later, Odyssey is still going strong, having now observed the Red Planet for more than six Martian years. One Martian year equals nearly two Earth years. The orbiter has observed more than six full changes of Martian seasons, enabling it to discern cyclical weather patterns that repeat seasonally though may be somewhat different each year. Large dust storms, for example, occur seasonally but can vary widely from one year to the next. Odyssey has now fully mapped the Red Planet, both during daytime sunlight and via infrared emissions at night. The orbiter has played a major role in the quest for evidence that water once flowed on Mars’ surface. Evidence of water ice near the planet’s surface was found by its instruments in numerous locations. Even before reaching Mars, Odyssey measured radiation levels during its journey from Earth to the Red Planet, providing crucial data for eventual crewed missions. Seen shortly after local Martian sunrise, clouds gather in the summit pit, or caldera, of Pavonis Mons, a giant volcano on Mars, in this image from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter. (Click for full view.) Image & Caption Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University For most of its time in orbit, Odyssey observed Mars’ surface either in the early afternoon or in the darkness of predawn hours. That changed during the last two years, when mission controllers re-configured its orbit in relation to the Sun, enabling the orbiter to fly over the planet in the light of early mornings. This orbital change allows Odyssey to compare ground temperatures in the morning, afternoon, and predawn hours at the same locations. It also enables the orbiter to study morning clouds and fogs. When launched in 2001, Odyssey followed two Mars missions that had failed in late 1999 and resulted in NASA overhauling its plans to explore the Red Planet. All six NASA Mars missions launched after Odyssey have been successful.
    155浏览量
    原文链接

  • 《CaSSIS Sends First Image of Mars》
    • 来源专题：中国科学院西安光机所服务
    • 编译者：lib_yaya
    • 发布时间：2016-06-21
    • The Mars Camera CaSSIS on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured its first images of the Red Planet this week. The pictures are a part of the mission's preparations for arriving at its destination in October. CaSSIS (Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System) has been developed by a team led by the University of Bern. It was launched with the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) in March and has already travelled just under half of its nearly 500 million km journey. While ...
    160浏览量
    原文链接