Mars Odyssey Orbiter mission

[aerogi]

I've just read on space.com that this orbital mission will be extended. Now I have a newbie-question. Will it be possible when the mission is going towards the end to do some additional testing stuff like they did with Magellan mission. I remember they performed some 'aerobraking' I think it was. Is there a possibility they will also put the orbiter in a much lower orbit and try some of these manoeuvers? Or is the atmosphere not think enough? It would be great to have some close up pictures from Olympus Mons for example or Valles Marineres? Perhaps they could eventually try to 'soft' land the thing? As was done on an asteroid a while ago (Near mission). Or am I seeing things too simple here?

 

[mah_fl]

I read that Odyssey has enough fuel left to last another 16 years, so they won't be soft landing it any time soon, lol.

 

[najab]

><i>Is there a possibility they will also put the orbiter in a much lower orbit and try some of these manoeuvers? Or is the atmosphere not think enough?</i><p>The Martian atmosphere is definitely thick enough for aerobraking, in fact that's how Odyssey got into it's science orbit in the first place! Odyssey's initial orbit was a lot higher and more eliptical than the science orbit. They made a number of aerobraking passes to circularise the orbit - so they probably won't do any 'tests' since they actually already used aerobraking operationally.<p>><i>It would be great to have some close up pictures from Olympus Mons for example or Valles Marineres?</i><p>That was one proposal - lowering the orbit to increase resolution. However, Odyssey is a valuable asset in Martian orbit since it can also act as a communications relay so I doubt they will lower the Orbit <b>too</b> much.<p>><i>Perhaps they could eventually try to 'soft' land the thing? As was done on an asteroid a while ago (Near mission).</i><p>Yes, they did land Near on Asteroid Eros, but that's a whole different kettle of fish. For one thing Eros has very little gravity - a couple of percent of Earth's. So it wasn't so much a case of landing as it was driving the spacecraft into the asteroid. More importantly though, Eros has no atmosphere, Mars does. Odyssey is travelling around Mars at orbital velocity, if it gets deep into the Martian atmosphere it <b>will</b> burn up, just like a satellite around the Earth. Odyssey was not designed to enter the atmosphere at speed and it doesn't have enough fuel to kill it's velocity so it would break up.</p></p></p></p></p>

 

[Leovinus]

I wonder if they could land it on one of Mars's moons. My guess is that the orbital planes are too out of whack and the altitudes are too far off to make it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[najab]

Altitude isn't a problem - in plane orbit changes are relatively low-energy. The problem is the orbit plane. Odyssey is in a sun-synchronous (near polar) orbit, Phobos and Deimos are in <b>much</b> more equatorial orbits (too lazy to Google the exact orbital parameters) - it would take a <b>lot</b> of go-juice to make that plane shift.

 

[Leovinus]

Perhaps it would be worth it one day to land a probe on one of the Moons instead of having an orbiter. Then you wouldn't have to worry about running out of fuel. *If* the moon is always pointed one face toward Mars, then you'd always have a camera pointed at the planet. Of course, you wouldn't have the luxury of a polar orbit to get greater coverage, but you would have the advantage of a longer mission lifespan. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mikejz]

I believe that the current policy is that mars probes are to assume an orbit that will not reenter for atleast 50 years once the mission is completed if the probe has not been sterilized. Odyssey should fit in that class.<br /><br />P.s. Anyone know how much life MGS has in it?

 

[chew_on_this]

wouldn't the probe burn up on entry? Why sterilize it if that's the case?

 

[mikejz]

There might be some remains---that is what they are worried about.

 

[mrmorris]

<font color="yellow">" *If* the moon is always pointed one face toward Mars..."</font><br /><br />I couldn't find anything that indicated wheter Phobos and Deimos are tidally locked or not. Phobos, at least, is in a low enough orbit that I think it's almost assured.<br /><br />Of course putting a camera there means that there is no way to ever vary the orbit. It would circle/photograph the same strip of Mars continuously. I doubt this is scientifically valuable.

 

[aerogi]

Thanks for the ideas. Now is there any chance, if the orbiter survives long enough that they can extend the mission to have very close flybys of the two moons?

 

[3488]

Only just seen this.<br /><br />It would be scientifically very valuable for Mars Odyssey to encounter Phobos & Deimos & to image them with the THEMIS through the entire spectral range, that instrument has.<br /><br />Fuel would be an issue though to pump the orbit of MO 2001 to rendezvous with them. MO 2001, aerobraked into the current orbit, precisley for fuel restraint reasons.<br /><br />Yes, both Phobos & Diemos keep the same face turned towards Mars.<br /><br />I would like to see the MRO turn the HiRISE to them both though. Already got a nice Jupiter image from Mars Orbit, so imagine how Phobos & Deimos would appear. I fear that MRO too could not encounter Phobos & Deimos for the reasons mentioned for MO 2001.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[portercc]

Cool idea Andrew. I'd also like to see Earth from Mars.

 

[docm]

Another find for Odyssey; a possible Martian water cycle<br /><br />Link....<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><b>'Bumpy' ice on Mars points to active water cycle</b><br /><br />The depth at which ice can be found below the surface of Mars varies greatly, new temperature maps made by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft reveal. The 'bumpy' ice appears to be involved in an active martian water cycle.<br /><br />Odyssey saw its first evidence for the ice in 2002, when an instrument detected neutrons that are generated when charged particles from space, called cosmic rays, hit hydrogen in ice molecules. The spacecraft's neutron detector showed that the ice is mostly hidden near the north and south poles (see image below right).<br /><br />That instrument has very fuzzy vision and cannot resolve any detail smaller than 500 kilometres, but now Joshua Bandfield of Arizona State University in Tempe, US, can paint a much finer picture of the subsurface ice.<br /><br />Ice acts as a heat reservoir, so as summer turns to autumn it can keep the temperatures from falling too fast. The closer the ice lies to the surface, the stronger the temperature lag.<br /><br />Using Odyssey's thermal imager, called THEMIS, Bandfield has mapped the seasonal temperature variation in several areas on Mars. He has found that the depth of the ice is highly variable, even on the finest scales that THEMIS can see – around 100 metres across (see image at right). In many places, ice lies only about 5 centimetres below the surface.<br />Rocky terrain<br /><br />Bandfield believes that this bumpiness can be explained if the ice is actively evaporating and recrystallising. He thinks that where there are a lot of rocks on the surface, they conduct summer daytime heat into the ground to evaporate the ice, so it lies relatively deeply buried.<br /><br />Areas of dusty s</p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

Drainage Channels in Promethei Terra.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

Southwest Candor Chasma & surrounding area.<br /><br />Landslide in Terra Cimmeria.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

I thought these looked interesting.<br /><br />South Polar terrain.<br /><br />Hydraotes Chaos.<br /><br />Deuteronilus Mensae.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[h2ouniverse]

indeed<br /><br />On the picture of Deuteronilus Mensae, the perfect circularity of the crater in center is stiking imho. They say in the caption that might indicate volatiles.<br />Another (difficult!!!) landing site?

 

[3488]

Hi Joel, <br /><br />Yes I can see this area being a future landing site. <br /><br />Another here of Deuteronilus Mensae from Mars Odyssey. <br /><br />Another here also from Mars Odyssey. <br /><br /><font color="#993300">I think the fact that an active glacier has been detected here, does seem to suggest that <br />volatiles are definately present here <br /></font><br />I thought this was striking, MER A Spirit landing site as seen from Mars Odyssey. <br /><br />Day & Night IR images of the area just south of the MER A Spirit site in Gusev Crater. <br /><br />Summit of Hecates Tholus volcano. <br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

<p><font size="2" color="#800000"><strong>Interesting update.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2" color="#800000"><strong>Chloride Salt deposits in Terra Sirenum.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2" color="#000080"><strong>http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10247</strong></font><br /><img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/11/14/eb81c12f-661d-405d-aea4-8643f479650a.Medium.jpg" alt="" /></p><p><font size="2" color="#800000"><strong>Andrew Brown.</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

<p><font size="2"><strong>Hellas Basin features with THEMIS.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2" color="#000080"><strong>http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10308</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Andrew Brown.</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>