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Odyssey Arriving at Mars Tonight

Posted by michael on from the home-from-the-wars dept.

moloader writes: "Odyssey will arrive at Mars on October 24, 2001, 0230 Universal Time (October 23, 7:30pm PDT/ 10:30pm EDT). As it nears its closest point to the planet over the northern hemisphere, the spacecraft will fire its 640-newton main engine for approximately 19.7 minutes to allow itself to be captured into an elliptical, or looping, orbit about 20 hours long. Go Mars!"

12 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. 640 Newtons by wiredog · · Score: 4, Funny

    Should be enough for anybody

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    1. Re:640 Newtons by hawk · · Score: 3, Funny
      > Weird. I wonder where 640 came from?


      It has tem, but they're not usable. The transmitter is locating after the 640th Newton, and using noncontiguous thrust would put it in a tailspin. So although all 965 are installed, the last 25 aren't useable. (however, there is speculation that it may be possible to make a TSO system: Terminate, Stay in Orbit., to use the extra Newtons. [Failing that, they'll be wrapped in cookies as snacks for the martians.]).


      hawk

    2. Re:640 Newtons by Rocketboy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Weird. I wonder where 640 came from?

      DOS. NASA's been under a bit of a budget crunch and...

      :)

    3. Re:640 Newtons by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 3, Funny

      The terminology here is not quite accurate. It is actually a 640 Fig Newton engine. NASA studies done in the 1970's determined that Fig Newtons are one of the densest cookies known to man, and the are inexpensive and easy to obtain. They serve as an excellent propellant for this orbital insertion application. It's amazing that only 640 of these cookies are necessary to maneuver this complex spacecraft. They must be flinging them with some kind of high-velocity railgun technology.

  2. Hope they used the right metric ... by gerddie · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... to calculate the point where to fire the engine :-)

    1. Re:Hope they used the right metric ... by sevensharpnine · · Score: 5, Funny

      Easy, 400 leagues over the spot where those three rocks make a small triangle the engine should engage to point the craft down roughly four spans. A few orbits in, the thrusters will be fired to reduce the elliptical orbit by about a thousand rods.

      --
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  3. think about it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    300,000,000 miles is 480,000,000 Km; let's hope they got it right this time :)

  4. At least now we know what went wrong the first try by TheMMaster · · Score: 3, Funny

    on the mars section of the site : If you want to be a real engineer, set your hands to work on paper models of: Pathfinder Mars Global Surveyor (pdf), and 2001 Mars Odyssey Color or Black-and-White (pdfs) spacecraft.
    with these kinds of drafting techniques...

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  5. Be careful by 91degrees · · Score: 1, Funny
    We already know that there's water on Mars, and if there is water then there must also be air. If there is air, this suggests that there must be life on the Red planet.


    By flying all these spacecraft into Mars, we may be destroying their ecosystem, and future generations of Nartian aliens may well have an issue with us violating their airspace, and they may well retaliate, or at least prosecute. Perhaps we should ask before sending these probes

    1. Re:Be careful by mrbuckles · · Score: 4, Funny
      We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
      -- Dan Quayle


      Perhaps we've deduced the source of the original post?
  6. sh*t happens by 033A · · Score: 1, Funny

    too bad, it missed Mars and soon arrives at Pluto as we can see here... how could that happen? Dont they look at their own web pages?

  7. Uh-oh... looks like "NASA MATH" again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    From NASA's own website, the very first sentence reads verbatim:

    NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey will arrive at Mars tonight at 10:30 p.m. EDT after traveling more than 460 kilometers (about 285 million miles) since its launch on April 7.

    Note the "460 kilometers". If 460 kilometers == 285 million miles, according to "NASA Math", this bird is doomed.