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On October 24th, the Mars
Odyssey went into orbit around Mars.
At 7:55 p.m. Pacific time,
flight controllers at the Deep Space Network station in Goldstone,
Calif., and Canberra, Australia, picked up the first radio
signal from the spacecraft as it emerged from behind the planet
Mars.
"Early information indicates
everything went great," said Matt Landano, the Odyssey project
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "The
orbit insertion burn went off just as we planned and we will
now begin the three- month long aerobraking phase."
Members of the flight team
are analyzing the information they are receiving from Odyssey
to help them evaluate the health and status of the spacecraft
and determine its precise orbit geometry.
"Orbit insertion is our single
most critical event during the mission, and we are glad it's
behind us," said David A. Spencer, Odyssey's mission manager
at JPL. "But we cannot rest on our laurels. The aerobraking
phase will be a demanding, around-the-clock operation, and
it requires the flight team to react as the atmosphere of
Mars changes."
The aerobraking phase is scheduled
to begin on Friday, October 26.
Information courtesy of NASA
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