Interplanetary Robots: Mars Odyssey
NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey was named after — no surprise — 2001: A Space Odyssey. It entered the Martian orbit in 2001. It has been in operation for over 15 years, and is the longest orbiting spacecraft around another planet.
Mars Odyssey’s primary mission was to determine whether life had existed on Mars in the past. It also worked on determining the extent of radiation hazards for future crewed missions. Most importantly though, it has acted as primary communicator relay for all rovers on the planet. This means that whenever a rover on the surface has to communicate with earth, Odyssey has transmitted signals from the rover to Earth and continues to do so today.
Its most notable achievement was mapping the spread of water and ice on Mars. It also predicted water in ’02, which Phoenix lander confirmed in ‘08.
Mars Odyssey also helped in selecting a landing site for Curiosity. It is the communication relay for Curiosity currently, as its orbit ensures it passes over the same parts of the planet every time. At the moment, it passes over Curiosity twice a day, transmitting signals back and forth faithfully.
It is currently fully operational and is expected to remain so at least till 2025.
