From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Newsgroups: sci.space.news
Subject: 2001 Mars Odyssey Set To Find Out What Mars Is Made Of
Date: 20 Mar 2001 01:32 UT
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Approved: sci-space-news@zagami.jpl.nasa.gov
Message-ID: <20MAR200101320970@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>

Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC             March 19, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Mary Hardin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-0344)

RELEASE:  01-46

2001 MARS ODYSSEY SET TO FIND OUT WHAT MARS IS MADE OF

     When NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey launches in April to 
explore the fourth planet from the Sun, it will carry a suite 
of scientific instruments designed to tell us what makes up 
the Martian surface, and provide vital information about 
potential radiation hazards for future human explorers.

"The launch of 2001 Mars Odyssey represents a milestone in our 
exploration of Mars -- the first launch in our restructured 
Mars Exploration Program we announced last October," said Dr. 
Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator for Space Science, NASA 
Headquarters, Washington, DC. "Mars continues to surprise us 
at every turn. We expect Odyssey to remove some of the 
uncertainties and help us plan where we must go with future 
missions."

Set for launch April 7 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, 
FL, Odyssey is NASA's first mission to Mars since the loss of 
two spacecraft in 1999. Other than our Moon, Mars has 
attracted more spacecraft exploration attempts than any other 
object in the solar system, and no other planet has proved as 
daunting to success. Of the 30 missions sent to Mars by three 
countries over 40 years, fewer than one-third have been 
successful. 

The Odyssey team conducted vigorous reviews and incorporated 
"lessons learned" in the mission plan. "The project team has 
looked at the people, processes, and design to understand and 
reduce our mission risk," said George Pace, 2001 Mars Odyssey 
project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 
Pasadena, CA. "We haven't been satisfied with just fixing the 
problems from the previous missions. We've been trying to 
anticipate and prevent other things that could jeopardize the 
success of the mission."

Odyssey is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-
term robotic exploration initiative launched in 1996 with Mars 
Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor. "The scientific 
trajectory of the restructured Mars Exploration Program begins 
a new era of reconnaissance with the Mars Odyssey orbiter," 
said Dr. Jim Garvin, lead scientist for NASA's Mars 
Exploration Program. "Odyssey will help identify and 
ultimately target those places on Mars where future rovers and 
landers must visit to unravel the mysteries of the Red 
Planet".

NASA's latest explorer carries three scientific instruments to 
map the chemical and mineralogical makeup of Mars: a thermal-
emission imaging system, a gamma ray spectrometer and a 
Martian radiation environment experiment. The imaging system 
will map the planet with high-resolution thermal images and 
give scientists an increased level of detail to help them 
understand how the mineralogy of the planet relates to the 
landforms. The part of Odyssey's imaging system that takes 
pictures in visible light will see objects with a clarity that 
fills the gaps between the Viking orbiter cameras of the 1970s 
and today's high-resolution images from Mars Global Surveyor.

Like a virtual shovel digging into the surface, Odyssey's 
gamma ray spectrometer will allow scientists to peer into the 
shallow subsurface of Mars, the upper few centimeters of the 
crust, to measure many elements, including the amount of 
hydrogen that exists. Since hydrogen is mostly likely present 
in the form of water ice, the spectrometer will be able to 
measure permanent ground ice and how that changes with the 
seasons.

"For the first time at Mars we will have a spacecraft that is 
equipped to find evidence for present near-surface water and 
to map mineral deposits from past water activity," said Dr. 
Steve Saunders, 2001 Mars Odyssey project scientist at JPL. 
"Despite the wealth of information from previous missions, 
exactly what Mars is made of is not fully known, so this 
mission will give us a basic understanding about the chemistry 
and mineralogy of the surface."

The Martian radiation environment experiment will be the first 
to look at radiation levels at Mars as they relate to the 
potential hazards faced by future astronauts. The experiment 
will take data on the way to Mars and in orbit around the Red 
Planet. After completing its primary mission, the Odyssey 
orbiter will provide a communications relay for future 
American and international landers, including NASA's Mars 
Exploration Rovers, scheduled for launch in 2003. 

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, manages the 2001 
Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, 
Washington, DC. Principal investigators at Arizona State 
University, the University of Arizona and NASA's Johnson Space 
Center will operate the science instruments. Lockheed Martin 
Astronautics, Denver, CO, is the prime contractor for the 
project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission 
operations will be conducted jointly from JPL, a division of 
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and 
Lockheed Martin.

                            -end-