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Mars Odyssey

NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey mission created the first global map of chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface.

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Mars Odyssey mission was the first spacecraft to make a global map of the chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface. The spacecraft also holds the record for the longest continually active mission in orbit around a planet other than Earth. It successfully completed its primary science mission from February 2002 through August 2004. Odyssey continues its work today, studying clouds, fog, and frost, and mapping surface rocks to make future Mars landings safer, as the orbiter continues to add to its 100,000+ orbits around the Red Planet.

Type

Orbiter

Launch / Orbit Insertion

April 7, 2001 / Oct. 24, 2001

Target

Mars

Objective

Mapping the chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface

Meet the Mars Odyssey Orbiter

Key Facts

Launch April 7, 2001, 11:02 am EST
Launch Location Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
CruiseApril-October 2001
Mars Orbit InsertionOct. 24, 2001
RocketDelta II 7925
Mission Duration2001 - ongoing
Featured Video

What Would Mars Look Like for an Astronaut in Orbit?

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, which will mark 25 years in orbit in 2026, during which it's made more than 100,000 trips around the Red Planet, captured the first-ever views of Mars that showcase the curving horizon and layers of atmosphere. Taken from an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometers), the same altitude at which the International Space Station flies above Earth, the views of Mars are similar to what an astronaut on board the ISS sees of Earth. While there are no astronauts yet at Mars, this view gives us a sense of what they might see, including gauzy layers of clouds and dust.

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Four side-by-side images, overhead views of different landscapes on Mars: The first image shows a flat area with a few small craters. The terrain around the edge of the frame is a dull copper color, while the rest is very bright, in shades of very light green and turquoise. The second image appears to be a crater or valley, but looks like the right half of a sunflower bloom, although colored in shades of tan and brown, except for the petals at the top of the frame, which are highlighted in very light shades of mint green. The third image shows a much more uneven and rocky surface, with rust-colored craters and outcroppings; on each of those the south-facing edges are dabbed with higlights of whitish light blue. The fourth image is of mostly flat ground, colored a dull copper, resembling a face with rocky outcroppings creating two eyes up top, a nose in the middle, and a crooked mouth at the bottom of the frame. The eyes shine brightly and the nose is highlighted slightly in bright blue, coloring the south-facing slopes.
Martian surface frost, made up largely of carbon dioxide, appears blueish-white in these images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) camera aboard NASA's 2001 Odyssey orbiter. THEMIS takes images in both visible light perceptible to the human eye and heat-sensitive infrared.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Tech Specs

Dimensions7.2 feet (2.2 meters) long
5.6 feet (1.7 meters) tall
8.5 feet (2.6 meters) wide
Total Weight1,598.4 pounds (725.0 kilograms)
Command and Data Handling SubsystemThe heart of this subsystem is a RAD6000 computer, a radiation-hardened version of the PowerPC chip once used on most Macintosh computers. With 128 megabytes of random access memory (RAM) and three megabytes of non-volatile memory, which allows the system to maintain data even without power, the subsystem runs Odyssey's flight software and controls the spacecraft through interface electronics.

The entire command and data handling subsystem weighs 24.5 pounds (11.1 kilograms).
PowerElectrical power subsystem weighs 189.6 pounds (86.0 kilograms).
PropulsionUses hydrazine propellant with nitrogen tetroxide as an oxidizer, produces a minimum thrust of 144 pounds of force (65.3 kilograms) of force.
Each of the four thrusters used for attitude control produces a thrust of 0.2 pound of force (0.1 kilogram) of force. Four 5.0-pound-force (2.3-kilogram-force) thrusters are used for turning the spacecraft.

The entire propulsion subsystem weighs 109.6 pounds (49.7 kilograms).
CommunicationsOdyssey's telecommunications subsystem is composed of both a radio system operating in the X-band microwave frequency range and a system that operates in the ultra high frequency (UHF) range.
The X-band system is used for communications between Earth and the orbiter, while the UHF system is used for communications between Odyssey and any landers present on the Martian surface at any given time.

The telecommunication subsystem weighs 52.7 pounds (23.9 kilograms).

Mars Relay Network — 'The Interplanetary Internet'

The Mars Odyssey orbiter's telecommunications systems provide a crucial service for Martian spacecraft, serving as the first link in a communications bridge back to Earth — an "interplanetary Internet" that can be used by numerous international spacecraft in coming years.

Learn More About the Mars Relay Network about Mars Relay Network — 'The Interplanetary Internet'
An illustrated graphic of Mars shows line drawings of two rovers, five orbiters and three international antenna networks that communicate between Mars and Earth.
The Mars Relay Network — or MRN — refers to five Mars orbiters that, in addition to their own science observations, relay data from the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers to Earth.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Science

2001 Mars Odyssey has contributed numerous science results supporting the Mars Exploration Program’s overall strategy – “Follow the Water.”

Learn More About Mars Odyssey Science about Science
An overhead landscape the looks like a painting covered in thick globs and spots of paint – a field of light blue-green in the upper right quarter, with a lavender spot in its middle, the lower half is a light olive green, with smudhes of white, and blue-green, and the upper left quarter is mostly shades of purple and very light gray, with smudges of green encroaching. Text at the bottom left shows the bottom edge of the scene is 50 miles across.

News and Features

All Mars Odyssey News
Article
2 Min Read

THEMIS Views Mars’ Arsia Mons Volcano

Article
4 Min Read

NASA Mars Orbiter Captures Volcano Peeking Above Morning Cloud Tops

6 Min Read

What NASA Is Learning from the Biggest Geomagnetic Storm in 20 Years

Article
4 Min Read

UPDATED: 10 Things for Mars 10

Article
1 Min Read

Odyssey’s Accomplishments at Its 100,000th Orbit

Article
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