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Mars Odyssey Spacecraft Bounces Back from Glitch at Red Planet

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Mars Odyssey Spacecraft
An artist's rendering shows the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA's veteran Mars Odyssey spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet is out of the woods after a glitch stalled the probe's science operations earlier this month.

The 11 year-old orbiter went into protective safe mode on June 8 after its onboard computer detected a problem with one of the three reaction wheels that control its orientation. One of these wheels jammed temporarily, so mission controllers instructed Mars Odyssey to use a spare it had onboard.

With the spare wheel up and running, Mars Odyssey has succesfully shifted out of safe mode (which pointed the spacecraft at Earth for better communications) to its normal downward direction facing Mars, called nadir.

"Attitude control in nadir pointing is being maintained with the use of the replacement wheel, and the suspect wheel has been taken out of use," Odyssey project manager Gaylon McSmith of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement.

Scientists will continue checking on the performance of the replacement wheel, but expect the spacecraft to be fully back on its feet soon.

"Remaining steps toward resuming all normal spacecraft activities will probably be completed by next week," officials said in the statement.

Mars Odyssey launched in April 2001 and has been orbiting the planet for more than a decade, longer than any other Mars mission in history.

The orbiter has been mapping the surface of Mars to study its chemical and mineral distribution, and it also serves as a relay station to pass on data collected by landers on the planet back to Earth. Mars Odyssey is a primary relay station for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, and will also serve the Mars Science Lab rover Curiosity after it lands on the Red Planet in August.

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Clara Moskowitz
Clara Moskowitz
Clara has a bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics from Wesleyan University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has written for both Space.com and Live Science.