Mars Odyssey Spacecraft -Longest Mission in History

[n2doc]

This awessome mosaic image taken by the Odyssey Spacecraft focuses on one junction in Mars' Noctis Labyrinthus where canyons meet to form a depression 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) deep. By the middle of next week, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter will have worked longer at Mars than any other spacecraft in history, having entered orbit around Mars on Oct. 24, 2001.

Odyssey made its most famous discovery -- evidence for massive reserviors of water ice just below the dry surface of Mars -- during its first few months, and it finished its radiation-safety check for future astronauts before the end of its prime mission in 2004. The bonus years of extended missions since then have enabled many accomplishments that would not have been possible otherwise.

"The extra years have allowed us to build up the highest-resolution maps covering virtually the entire planet," said Odyssey Project Scientist Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The maps are assemblages of images from the orbiter's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) camera, provided and operated by Arizona State University, Tempe. To mark the approach to the Mars longevity record, the camera team and NASA prepared a slide show of remarkable images.

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http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/12/mars-oddes...

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/odyssey/images/all-st...