NASA's Odyssey to Mars

Artists concept of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft

2001 Mars Odyssey is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet. The opportunity to go to Mars comes around every 26 months, when the alignment of Earth and Mars in their orbits around the sun allows spacecraft to travel between the two planets with the least amount of energy. 2001 Mars Odyssey launched on April 7, 2001, and arrived at Mars on October 24, 2001, 0230 Universal Time (October 23, 7:30 pm PDT/ 10:30 EDT).

Odyssey's primary science mission took place February 2002 through August 2004, and the orbiter began its extended mission on August 24, 2004. For the first time, the mission mapped the amount and distribution of chemical elements and minerals that make up the martian surface. The spacecraft globally mapped many elements, and the maps of hydrogen distribution led scientists to discover vast amounts of water ice in the polar regions burried just beneath the surface. Odyssey recorded the radiation environment in low Mars orbit to determine the radiation-related risk to any future human explorers who may one day go to Mars. All of these objectives support the four science goals of the Mars Exploration Program.

The three primary instruments carried by 2001 Mars Odyssey are:

• THEMIS (Thermal Emission Imaging System),   for determining the distribution of minerals, particularly those that can only form in the presence of water;
  
  
• GRS (Gamma Ray Spectrometer),    for determining the presence of 20 chemical elements on the surface of Mars, including hydrogen in the shallow subsurface (which acts as a proxy for determining the amount and distribution of possible water ice on the planet); and,
  
  
• MARIE (Mars Radiation Environment Experiment),   for studying the radiation environment.
  
  

The Odyssey orbiter has also provided a communications relay for the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, transmitting 85% of the data from the rovers to Earth. Odyssey will continue to support the rovers and future landed missions to Mars throughout its extended mission. Scientists and engineers will also use Odyssey images and data to identify potential landing sites for future Mars missions as it did for the 2003 rovers.

The name "2001 Mars Odyssey" was selected as a tribute to the vision and spirit of space exploration as embodied in the works of renowned science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke. Evocative of one of his most celebrated works, the name speaks to our hopes for the future and of the fundamental human desire to explore the unknown despite great dangers, the risk of failure and the daunting, enormous depths of space.