[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey Completes Maneuver to Prepare for Comet Flyby

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2014 15:44:57 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201408062244.s76Mivi6014098_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-266

Orbiter Completes Maneuver to Prepare for Comet Flyby
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
August 06, 2014

Mars Odyssey Mission Status Report

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has successfully adjusted the timing of
its orbit around Mars as a defensive precaution for a comet's close
flyby of Mars on Oct. 19, 2014.

The orbiter fired thrusters for five and a half seconds on Tuesday,
Aug. 5. The maneuver was calculated to place the orbiter behind Mars
during the half hour on the flyby date when dust particles released
from comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring are most likely to reach Mars. The
nucleus of the comet will miss Mars by about one-third of the distance
between Earth and Earth's moon.

"The modeling predictions for comet Siding Spring suggest a
dust-particle impact would not be likely in any case, but this maneuver
has given us an added protection," said Mars Odyssey Project Manager
David Lehman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
"Those dust particles will be traveling so fast that even one hit could
end our mission."

The Tuesday maneuver did not change the shape of Odyssey's orbit, but
tweaked the timing. The spacecraft is in a near-polar orbit, circling
Mars about once every two hours. The maneuver used four
trajectory-correction thrusters, which each provide about 5 pounds (22
newtons) of force. It consumed less than one percent of the orbiter's
remaining fuel.

Mars Odyssey has worked at the Red Planet longer than any other Mars
mission in history. NASA launched the spacecraft on April 7, 2001, and
Odyssey arrived at Mars Oct. 24, 2001. Besides conducting its own
scientific observations, the mission provides a communication relay for
robots on the Martian surface.

Odyssey is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the
spacecraft. JPL and Lockheed Martin collaborate on operating the
spacecraft. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages
JPL for NASA.

For more about the Mars Odyssey mission, visit:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey

For more about comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring, visit:

http://mars.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

2014-266
Received on Wed 06 Aug 2014 06:44:57 PM PDT