NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has successfully
adjusted its orbital location to be in a better position to provide prompt
confirmation of the August landing of the Curiosity rover.
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft carrying
Curiosity can send limited information directly to Earth as it enters Mars'
atmosphere. Before the landing, Earth will set below the Martian horizon from
the descending spacecraft's perspective, ending that direct route of
communication. Odyssey will help to speed up the indirect communication
process.
NASA reported during a July 16 news conference that
Odyssey, which originally was planned to provide a near-real-time communication
link with Curiosity, had entered safe mode July 11. This situation would have
affected communication operations, but not the rover's landing. Without a
repositioning maneuver, Odyssey would have arrived over the landing area about
two minutes after Curiosity landed.
A spacecraft thruster burn Tuesday, July 24, lasting
about six seconds has nudged Odyssey about six minutes ahead in its orbit.
Odyssey is now operating normally, and confirmation of Curiosity's landing is
expected to reach Earth at about 10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5 (early Aug. 6, EDT
and Universal Time), as originally planned.
"Information we are receiving indicates the
maneuver has completed as planned," said Mars Odyssey Project Manager
Gaylon McSmith of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
"Odyssey has been working at Mars longer than any other spacecraft, so it
is appropriate that it has a special role in supporting the newest
arrival."
Two other Mars orbiters, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter and the European Space Agency's Mars Express, also will be in position
to receive radio transmissions from the Mars Science Laboratory during its
descent. However, they will be recording information for later playback, not
relaying it immediately, as only Odyssey can.
Odyssey arrived at Mars in 2001. Besides conducting
its own scientific observations, it has served as a communication relay for
NASA's Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers and the Phoenix lander on the Martian
surface. NASA plans to use Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as
communication relays for Curiosity during that rover's two-year prime mission
on Mars.
Keywords – Mars Orbiter Repositioned to phone Home
Mars Landing, communication relay for NASA’s spirit, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter.
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