2002-03-19 | MISSIONS
Radiation Instrument Goes back to Work
Flight controllers for NASAÂs Mars
Odyssey spacecraft report that the Martian
Radiation Environment experiment (MARIE), which stopped
working last August, is collecting science data once again. The mission team
waited until the spacecraft had arrived
in its final orbit and Odyssey's
other instruments were up and running before resuming troubleshooting MARIE.
After weeks of trying a variety of techniques to communicate with the instrument,
engineers finally reestablished contact. They then spent several days evaluating
MARIE's health before switching it back to data collection mode. Their tests indicate
that the problem may have been caused by a memory error in the instrument's onboard
software.
MARIE is designed to measure the amount of radiation
that future Mars explorers would sustain. Odyssey mission scientists reported
recently that data gathered by MARIE before the malfunction show that astronauts
would undergo twice the radiation that they do aboard
the International Space Station.
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from NASA, Mar 19, 2002
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Aug 21, 2001 | MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Mars Odyssey Mission Status
(NASA) - While the spacecraft is in overall good health. flight controllers have turned off the Martian Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE) after the instrument did not respond.
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