2001 Mars Odyssey

2001 Mars Odyssey ( or shortly Mars Odyssey ) is a NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars since 24 October 2001 and studied him. Your launch took place on April 7, 2001 aboard a Delta II launch vehicle. The originally planned mission duration has exceeded the orbiter despite some damage by far and has already been extended four times by two years until September 2012. The orbiter also serves as a relay station for data transfer between the landed 6 August 2012 rover Curiosity and the earth.

Mission

After their arrival at Mars, the first major hurdle for the probe was to reduce their speed using a aerobraking maneuver, and thus to wheel into orbit around Mars. The probe flew by several times the uppermost layers of the atmosphere of Mars to be braked by the friction generated.

Objectives

The main phase of the mission began in February 2002 and should end in August 2004. Since the probe was in a very good condition, the mission has been extended four times to two years, most recently until September 2012. Depending on the planned duties the probe has enough fuel by 2015. The first time in the history of Mars research is in the mission a global map of the chemical elements on the surface created. One focus of the mission is on the search for deposits of water ice. In addition, the radiation exposure should be investigated in low Mars orbit to better explore the risks of future manned missions to Mars.

Water Fund

Culmination of the mission of Mars Odyssey made ​​the detection of large quantities of water ice, especially in the south polar region of the planet in October 2002. Previously, the researchers had suspected that the Martian south pole consists almost entirely of so-called dry ice ( frozen carbon dioxide ). Now, however, it is clear that there lie beyond even water ice, which are partly hidden among the dry ice layers. These findings were confirmed by another method by using the European Mars Express spacecraft in February 2004.

The name

The name of the probe is a homage to Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The 758 kg mass spacecraft should represent a new beginning in American research on Mars after the disasters of Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander in 1999. The Mars Odyssey also has some of the same mission objectives as the failed Mars Climate Orbiter.

Instruments

The instruments include a multispectral camera, a radiation detector and a gamma ray spectrometer.

  • THEMIS ( Thermal Emission Imaging System - heat-radiation imaging system ): The device is a type of camera that will photograph the Martian in the areas of visible light and infrared radiation. Using the images, the distribution of minerals on the Martian surface to be explored.
  • GRS ( Gamma Ray Spectrometer - gamma ray spectrometer ): This component is on the Martian surface verify the existence of 20 different elements of the periodic table. The elements include, inter alia silicon, iron, magnesium, etc. The GRS neutron detectors are on the surface and in the upper layers of the Martian soil - up to about a meter deep - look out for hydrogen or water and water ice. Maybe failure of the instrument by train change 2009.
  • MARIE ( Martian Radiation Experiment - Martian radioactivity experiment ): When MARIE was used a charged particle spectrometer to check the atmosphere of Mars to radioactive substances. Also, already during the flight from Earth to Mars, the exposure to radiation was measured continuously with this instrument.

The instrument MARIE failed due to the strong particle bombardment due to the solar storm on 28 October 2003.

Course

  • 2001: Successful start on 7 April 2001 at a Delta II rocket.
  • 2001: Bullet in a Mars orbit on 24 October 2001.
  • 2002: beginning of the measurements in February 2002.
  • 2002: detection of large quantities of water ice in October 2002.
  • 2003: Irreparable damage to the instrument MARIE by the strong solar storm on 28 October 2003.
  • 2004: extension of the mission duration in August 2004 for a further two years until September 2006.
  • 2006: extension of the mission period in September 2006 for a further two years until August 2008.
  • 2008: extension for another two years until September 2010
  • 2009: displacement of the orbit. The probe now sees the surface to 15:45 solar time instead of the previous 17 o'clock. This better analysis of the IR radiation, but possibly overheating of the GRS.
  • 2010: On December 15, the probe breaks with more than 3340 days in Mars orbit the record previously held by Global Surveyor.

Results

" 2001 Mars Odyssey " discovered numerous water resources at the two Mars Poland under the surface. In addition, particular geological activities of the planets were put under the microscope. The last important tasks of the probe counts the forwarding of data for the two landed in January 2004 Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity at NASA. The mission is already considered successful.

Space probe Manned mission to Mars Mars Global Surveyor Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes Mariner program Phobos program Mars Observer Mars 96 Nozomi (spacecraft) Deep Space 2 Beagle 2 Mars Exploration Rover Phoenix (spacecraft) Fobos-Grunt Yinghuo-1 ExoMars Mars sample return mission Mars Surveyor 2001 Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
12513
de