NASA Alters Course of Mars Odyssey

Mars Odyssey is nearing Mars, and NASA is making final adjustments.

Posted by Tormod
15 October, 2001 04:55:33

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA ordered its 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft to fire thrusters to put it on its final approach to the Red Planet, which the craft will begin orbiting in less than two weeks.

The fine-tuning move made late Thursday was the fourth trajectory correction maneuver for Odyssey. The robotic spacecraft is expected to begin orbiting Mars at 10:26 p.m. EDT on Oct. 23, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Friday.

The maneuver changed Odyssey's speed by just .17 mph, enough to tweak by a few miles the altitude at which the probe will arrive in orbit, said David Spencer, Odyssey's mission manager.

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory can, if needed, further adjust the craft's path hours before it enters orbit.

Odyssey will take until late January to settle into its final orbit before beginning the scientific portion of its mission.

The $297 million mission will map the amount and distribution of chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface. The spacecraft will also hunt for hydrogen, most likely in the form of frozen water, in the shallow subsurface of Mars.

As of Friday, Odyssey was 2.1 million miles from Mars and was traveling at 51,800 mph relative to the sun.