Today, it's all about the thrill of victory at a time when America needed one.
"It's a magnificent demonstration of American will to succeed in spite of problems," said NASA administrator Dan Goldin of Odyssey's successful insertion into orbit around Mars last night. He seemed to be speaking both to NASA's quest to put a craft in orbit around Mars after two recent failures as well as having to do that amid a tense national crisis.
But by Friday, with the spacecraft gravitationally tethered to Mars, a round-the-clock grind of detail work begins as NASA mission managers begin the painstaking, weeks-long task of putting the Mars Odyssey spacecraft into its final and proper orbit around the Red Planet.
As planned, Odyssey
.At a Wednesday press conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages Odyssey, officials discussed the successful initial orbit insertion -- considered the most difficult part of the mission -- and the task ahead.
"Hundreds and hundreds of things had to go right, and they did," said Matt Landano, an Odyssey project manager at JPL. "We have a healthy spacecraft."
Odyssey was about 480 miles (773 kilometers) above the surface of Mars when it began its first 18.5-hour loop around the planet at roughly 10:26 p.m. ET Tuesday. The initial orbits are long and egg-shaped but must become circular over time.
Landano said the first step went flawlessly. The craft was expected to hit its first check point, above the Martian north pole, to within 25 kilometers. It was within 1 kilometer of that target.
"Orbit insertion was the single most critical part of the mission," said David A. Spencer, JPL's Odyssey mission manager. "But we can't rest on our laurels."
Beginning Friday and through mid-January, friction from the thin Martian atmosphere will slow Odyssey down and lower it to an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometers). Instead of relying exclusively on thrusters aboard the spacecraft, aerobraking employs the atmosphere as a brake and a steering wheel.
Engineers liken it to sailing, and in fact the craft's solar panels act as the sails. In creating drag, the solar panels will reach temperatures as high as 350 degrees Fahrenheit, Spencer said.
Aerobraking saves money by significantly reducing the amount of fuel the craft needed to take. Fuel adds weight, adding greatly to the cost of launch.
The aerobraking will be closely monitored by mission managers. Odyssey's thrusters can be used to make minor adjustments to path and speed, they said. As Odyssey gets closer to Mars, the orbits will become shorter and shorter, and the engineers' work will get more frenetic.
"It's going to be a long and hard three months," Spencer said.
When the aerobraking is finished, Odyssey will circle Mars every two hours and can begin studying the Red Planet in earnest.
The mission
Putting the spacecraft in a best-possible final orbit will affect the quality of the science measurements planned for the mission. Odyssey will explore the surface of Mars and also use infrared technology to "see" heat below the surface, in an effort to map the composition of Mars and search for water or ice.
Another instrument aboard the craft is designed to measure radiation in the harsh environment of Mars. That instrument
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