[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey Succesfully Deploys GRS Boom

From: Rosemary Hackney <ltcrose_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:01:30 2004
Message-ID: <000d01c20c2a$d28cd580$e470d6d1_at_default>

lol Ron... wait until they try to land...

Rosie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 7:44 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey Succesfully Deploys GRS Boom


>
>
> MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
> JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
> CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
> NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
> PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
>
> Mars Odyssey Mission Status
> June 4, 2002
>
> Flight controllers for NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft completed
> the last major technical milestone today in support of the
> science mission by unfurling the boom that holds the gamma ray
> spectrometer sensor head instrument.
>
> Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.,
> received confirmation from the spacecraft that the 6.2-meter
> (20-foot) boom was successfully deployed at noon Pacific time.
>
> The gamma sensor head is part of the gamma ray spectrometer
> suite. It sits at the end of the boom to minimize interference
> from any gamma rays coming from the spacecraft itself. The two
> other gamma ray spectrometer instruments, the neutron
> spectrometer and the high-energy neutron detector, are mounted
> on the main spacecraft structure.
>
> During the past few months, while the boom was in the stowed
> position, the instrument suite has provided significant
> information about the hydrogen abundance on Mars. This allowed
> scientists to conclude there are large quantities of water ice
> just below the surface.
>
> "Deploying the boom enhances the sensitivity and accuracy of the
> gamma ray spectrometer instrument and will improve the accuracy
> of the hydrogen measurements," said Dr. William Boynton,
> principal investigator for Odyssey's gamma ray spectrometer suite
> at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Now the instrument will
> begin measuring many other important elements such as iron,
> aluminum, potassium, chlorine, thorium, uranium and others.
>
> "Today's deployment is a continuation of the excellent
> performance of this flight team. They have done an outstanding
> job," said Roger Gibbs, Odyssey's project manager at JPL. "I
> look forward to many exciting discoveries to come as we continue
> our mission."
>
> JPL manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of
> Space Science, Washington, D.C. Principal investigators at
> Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in
> Tucson, and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the
> science instruments. Additional science investigators are
> located at the Russian Space Research Institute and Los Alamos
> National Laboratories, New Mexico. Lockheed Martin Astronautics,
> Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and
> built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from
> Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California
> Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
>
> # # # # #
>
>
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>
Received on Tue 04 Jun 2002 08:49:13 PM PDT