NASA's Odyssey Spacecraft Sets Exploration Record on Mars

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Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
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News release: 2010-418 December 15, 2010

NASA's Odyssey Spacecraft Sets Exploration Record on Mars

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-418&cid=release_2010-418

PASADENA, Calif., -- NASA's Mars Odyssey, which launched in 2001, will break the record
Wednesday for longest-serving spacecraft at the Red Planet. The probe begins its 3,340th day in
Martian orbit at 5:55 p.m. PST (8:55 p.m. PST) on Wednesday to break the record set by
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which orbited Mars from 1997 to 2006.

Odyssey's longevity enables continued science, including the monitoring of seasonal changes on
Mars from year to year and the most detailed maps ever made of most of the planet. In 2002, the
spacecraft detected hydrogen just below the surface throughout Mars' high-latitude regions. The
deduction that the hydrogen is in frozen water prompted NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission,
which confirmed the theory in 2008. Odyssey also carried the first experiment sent to Mars
specifically to prepare for human missions, and found radiation levels around the planet from
solar flares and cosmic rays are two to three times higher than around Earth.

Odyssey also has served as a communication relay, handling most of the data sent home by
Phoenix and NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Odyssey became the
middle link for continuous observation of Martian weather by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor
and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

"Odyssey has proved itself to be a great spacecraft, but what really enables a spacecraft to reach
this sort of accomplishment is the people behind it," said Gaylon McSmith, Odyssey project
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This is a tribute to the whole
Odyssey team."

Odyssey will support the 2012 landing of the Mars Science Laboratory and surface operations of
that mission. Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, will assess whether its
landing area has had environmental conditions favorable for microbial life and preserving
evidence about whether life has existed there. The rover will carry the largest, most advanced set
of instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the Martian surface.

"The Mars program clearly demonstrates that world-class science coupled with sound and
creative engineering equals success and longevity," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars
Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Other recent NASA spacecraft at Mars include the Mars Global Surveyor that began orbiting the
Red Planet in 1997. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed on Mars in January 2004. They
have been exploring for six years, far surpassing their original 90-day mission. Phoenix landed
May 25, 2008, farther north than any previous spacecraft to the planet's surface. The mission's
biggest surprise was the discovery of perchlorate, an oxidizing chemical on Earth that is food for
some microbes, but potentially toxic for others. The solar-powered lander completed its three-
month mission and kept working until sunlight waned two months later. MRO arrived at Mars in
2006 on a search for evidence that water persisted on the planet's surface for a long period of
time.

Odyssey is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed
Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. JPL and Lockheed Martin collaborate on
operating the spacecraft. For more about the Mars Odyssey mission, visit:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey . JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena.

-end-

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