[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey Puts Itself into Standby Safe Mode

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2012 16:54:31 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201206082354.q58NsVkt019799_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-166

Orbiter Puts Itself into Standby Safe Mode
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
June 08, 2012

Mars Odyssey Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter put itself into a
precautionary standby status early Friday, June 8, Universal Time
(Thursday evening, Pacific Time), when the spacecraft detected
unexpected characteristics in movement of one of its reaction wheels.
The spacecraft uses three of these wheels as the primary method for
adjusting and maintaining its orientation. It carries a spare reaction
wheel.

Odyssey's flight team is in communication with the spacecraft while
planning actions in response to Odyssey entering the standby status,
which is called safe mode.

"The spacecraft is safe, and information we've received from it
indicates the problem is limited to a single reaction wheel," said
Odyssey Mission Manager Chris Potts of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. "The path forward is evaluating the health of the
reaction wheel and our options for proceeding."

Because the trigger for the incident was limited to a reaction wheel,
the spacecraft did not need to completely reboot its computer, as it had
in some earlier safing incidents during its record-setting decade of
service at Mars. The flight team will be developing a recovery timeline
in coming days.

NASA launched the Mars Odyssey spacecraft on April 7, 2001. Odyssey
arrived at Mars Oct. 24, 2001. After arrival, the spacecraft spent
several months using a technique called aerobraking, which involved
dipping into the Martian atmosphere to adjust its orbit. In February
2002, science operations began. Odyssey has worked at Mars longer than
any other mission in history. Besides conducting its own scientific
observations, it serves as a communication relay for robots on the
surface of Mars. NASA plans to use Odyssey and the newer Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter as communication relays for the Mars Science
Laboratory mission during the landing and Mars-surface operations of
that mission's Curiosity rover.

Odyssey is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, 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. For more about the Mars Odyssey
mission, visit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey .

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
June 8, 2012
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

2012-166
Received on Fri 08 Jun 2012 07:54:31 PM PDT