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MARS ODYSSEY at a GLANCE High-Gain Antenna years 20 ar ound th Mars Odyssey’s future remains unknown, but a lack of advocacy might indicate its end is near. BY NOLA TAYLOR REDD hen NASA’s While Odyssey is nevertheless Odyssey managing to still carry out its job in spacecraft space, it’s struggling in the political Wblasted off in arena. President Trump’s 2021 bud- 2001, Mars was get request, released in February considered a dry, barren world. 2020, most clearly threatened mis- But over the past two decades, this sions like SOFIA, a telescope that quiet powerhouse of an orbiter has flies on a plane. However, the revealed a wealth of information danger to Odyssey was more subtle: about the Red Planet. During its Trump’s 2021 budget slashes first year around Mars, Odyssey Odyssey’s funding from just under found the first direct evidence $12 million to around $1 million. of subsurface water on This would effectively pull the plug the planet. The orbiter on a working spacecraft, whose pri- also currently holds the mary costs are human maintenance record for the longest and guidance. continuous observa- But “Odyssey is remarkably tions of martian healthy,” says Phil Christensen, the weather, which is principal investigator for Odyssey’s an ongoing study Thermal Emission Imaging System with important (THEMIS) and a geologist at implications for Arizona State University. “It’s just ABOVE: The 2001 Mars future human this crazy workhorse spacecraft that Odyssey space- habitation rarely goes into safe mode.” craft launched April 7, 2001, aboard a of Mars. Boeing Delta II rocket, Twenty years of Two decades of science starting a seven-month wear and tear have undoubtedly Odyssey arrived at Mars on journey to the Red Planet. NASA/KSC taken their toll on the plucky October 24, 2001, with the goal of robotic craft. In fact, a series of investigating the martian environ- RIGHT: The Mars Odyssey logo depicts strong solar flares put one instru- ment. The spacecraft was designed the spacecraft taking ment out of commission in 2003, to map the planet’s chemical and thermal and gamma-ray just a few years after blasting off for mineralogical makeup as a step data with its THEMIS (right) and GRS the Red Planet. And, in 2012, the toward understanding the role (left) instruments. spacecraft lost one of four reaction water played in shaping the envi- NASA/JPL/CORBY WASTE wheels, which are responsible for ronment, both past and present. controlling its orientation (though The orbiter completed its primary the three remaining wheels con- mission in August 2004, then began tinue to function). to take on a series of two-year 20 ASTRONOMY e RED PLANET Mars Odyssey has spent nearly two decades collecting data while in orbit around the Red Planet, helping researchers produce thermal maps, chart deposits of buried ice, trace the distribution of various elements, and more. NASA/JPL-CALTECH WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 21 MARS ODYSSEY AT A GLANCE High-gain antenna Made of mostly aluminum and titanium, 2001 Mars Odyssey has been orbiting the Red Planet since October 24, 2001. Although a solar storm quickly took down the spacecraft’s MARIE instrument, meant to characterize Mars’ radiation environment, the rest of its instruments remain in good shape. These include a thermal imager (THEMIS), a gamma ray spectrometer (GRS), and a high-gain antenna that helps martian Solar array rovers and landers communicate with Earth. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY MARIE (inside) Star cameras Gamma ray sensor head Neutron High Energy spectrometer THEMIS Neutron Detector (HEND) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) antenna mission extensions, each dedicated minerals that are heated by the beneath Mars’ surface, it didn’t to a specific set of objectives. Sun radiate that heat back into stop there; the craft also uncovered “Odyssey has played a pivotal space, allowing THEMIS to chart snowpacks in some of the planet’s role in changing how we think the planet’s mineralogical makeup warmer regions. These snowpacks, about Mars,” says Lori Glaze, at night. GRS, also still active, has potentially remnants from a mar- NASA’s Planetary Science a similar job: mapping chemicals tian ice age, provided some of the Division director. “It has really by monitoring gamma rays pro- first hints that Mars is experienc- changed our perception of a duced when cosmic rays strike the ing ongoing climate change. planet that [we thought] was a martian surface. This technique “There’s a lot of ice on Mars,” dry desert to one that’s a frozen allowed GRS to play a key role in Christensen says, pointing out that desert.” discovering water ice locked just in some places it can lie as deep as 10 inches (25 centimeters) beneath the surface. “That’s going to be “There’s a lot of ice on Mars,” Christensen says, pointing out that extremely important when we send in some places it can lie as deep as 10 inches (25 centimeters) beneath humans to Mars, using that water the surface. “That’s going to be extremely important when ice.” Mining ice could potentially provide the liquid water that we send humans to Mars, using that water ice.” humans need to survive, without having to lug it from Earth. Odyssey carried three main below the ground in 2002. This potential for in situ science instruments to the Red MARIE’s job was characterizing resource utilization — using what Planet: THEMIS, the Gamma Ray the radiation environment of space materials are locally available — Spectrometer (GRS), and the around Mars. However, MARIE is an important factor in selecting Mars Radiation Environment shut down in 2003, after charged future human landing sites on Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS is particles from the Sun bombarded Mars. A 2019 paper published in still active today, working to map the spacecraft, irrevocably damag- Geophysical Research Letters used the distribution of minerals on ing the instrument. data from Odyssey and its sister Mars’ surface by scanning it in Although Odyssey made an craft, the Mars Research Orbiter, visible and infrared light. Martian initial splash by finding signs of ice to look for ice that could easily be 22 ASTRONOMY • DECEMBER 2020 AN ORBIT TO REMEMBER Mars orbit insertion October 23, 2001 Outer cruise 3 4 Mars Spacecraft initialization Deploy solar array 2 Mars Odyssey reached and studied the Red Planet by 8 relying on a series of different orbits, Polar orbit including cruise phase, capture, Earth aerobrake, mapping, 7 and polar orbits. The Mapping orbit cruise phase lasted 5 about 200 Earth days Capture orbit 6 and the initial 1 Aerobrake orbit mapping phase lasted about 900 Launch from Earth Earth days, though April 7, 2001 the mission has since Delta II rocket received multiple extensions. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY dug up by intrepid human explor- variability in weather and climate,” ers. “You wouldn’t need a backhoe says Odyssey’s project scientist, to dig up this ice. You could use a Jeff Plaut, a researcher at JPL. shovel,” the paper’s lead author, “The role of large dust storms is a Sylvain Piqueux of NASA’s Jet focus of this research, and Odyssey Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said acquired detailed observations of in a press release. “We’re continu- two of these global storms during ing to collect data on buried ice on its mission.” Mars, zeroing in on the best places One of Odyssey’s greatest for astronauts to land.” achievements, however, was its But water isn’t the only impor- comprehensive map of the Red tant consideration when it comes Planet. In 2010, researchers to landing future astronauts on combined some 21,000 THEMIS Mars. Odyssey has also been images to create the most accurate studying the Red Planet’s weather global map of Mars to date. for nearly two continuous decades. According to Plaut, the map is now Over that time, it has homed in the starting point for almost all on global dust storms, water ice geologic studies undertaken on the Odyssey’s THEMIS clouds, and atmospheric proper- Red Planet. “[THEMIS] gave us a instrument scans the surface of Mars in ties, painting a clearer picture of very detailed view of the physical underground stresses near the vol- this artist’s concept. Mars’ changing climate, nature of the surface,” Christensen cano. And while the caves are too By combining some 21,000 THEMIS Christensen says. says. “That’s provided tremendous high up to be much use for poten- images, researchers Odyssey’s extensive dataset insight into the physical properties tial human habitats — or, for that created the most accurate global map also overlaps with weather data that are acting on Mars today.” matter, for hosting microbial life of Mars’ surface to collected by NASA’s Mars Global THEMIS also helped scientists — they spurred the hunt for lower- date. NASA/JPL-CALTECH Surveyor, and other orbiters have find a collection of seven caves on altitude caves and lava tubes. provided complimentary observa- the slope of the volcano Arisa “No other instrument at Mars tions. “This allows us to look at the Mons. These martian grottos could give the thermal information repeatability and the year-to-year likely formed due to natural crucial to this research,” Plaut said WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 23 Martian soil greatly enriched with hydrogen, a tracer for water, is shown in a press release after the find. far from finished with its science. out a significant amount of sci- in dark blue in this “This is a great example of the “We have a number of ongoing ence during its lifetime, it has global map created using Odyssey exciting discoveries Odyssey science investigations, primarily also served as valuable support observations of continues to make.” with the THEMIS infrared and for other missions.
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