Orbiter Glitch Means NASA Might Not Hear Landing Signal from Mars Rover Curiosity

Well, this sucks

Now, we wont know if it landed, if it landed safely, or if the satellite is screwed up permanently...

Good job! (Note: Sarcasm)

TeslasDisciple,
Did you read the same article, I read?

While I read some not good things, I also read about some redundancy postive things in communications and observational other salitlite sources and Odessy as well.

I am optimistic! ;)

I was attempting at humor...

I am sure that NASA expected something like this to happen, as the motto is "Redundancy is key", and they probably have some back up for the back to the back up of the back up for the regular system. I trust NASA, and was simply being a sadistic humorist.

" But last week, normal adjustments to its orbit took an unusually high toll on its attitude control systems. "

Sounds to me like an adolescent.

I wonder as the Martians look to the sky, one the Martians might go around screaming to all the other Martians, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" and we on Earth can soon be watching a movie called "Martian Little" to Earth's movie Chicken Little, in 3-D Martian view cinerama?

On a more serious note:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/odyssey/odyssey20120614.html

Test of Spare Wheel Puts Orbiter on Path to Recovery 06.14.12 Mars Odyssey Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. -- In a step toward returning NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter to full service, mission controllers have tested a spare reaction wheel on the spacecraft for potential use with two other reaction wheels in adjusting and maintaining the spacecraft's orientation.

After more than 11 years of non-operational storage, the spare reaction wheel passed preliminary tests on Wednesday, June 12, spinning at up to 5,000 rotations per minute forward and backward. Odyssey engineers plan to substitute it for a reaction wheel they have assessed as no longer reliable. That wheel stuck for a few minutes last week, causing Odyssey to put itself into safe mode on June 8, Universal Time (June 7, Pacific Time). Safe mode is a precautionary status with reduced activity.

"We are taking steps to assess the replacement of the troublesome wheel with the spare that Odyssey has been carrying for exactly this purpose," said Mars Odyssey Project Manager Gaylon McSmith of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "If the assessment results are positive, this will put us on a path toward resuming full use of Odyssey."

Like many other spacecraft, Odyssey uses a set of three reaction wheels to control its attitude, or which way it is facing relative to the sun, Earth or Mars. Increasing the rotation rate of a reaction wheel inside the spacecraft causes the spacecraft itself to rotate in the opposite direction. The configuration in use since launch combines the effects of three wheels at right angles to each other to provide control in all directions. The orbiter carries a fourth reaction wheel skewed at angles to all three others so that it can be used as a substitute for any one of them. This spare wheel had not rotated since before Odyssey's April 7, 2001, launch.

Odyssey can also use thrusters to control its attitude. Reaction wheels offer the advantage of running on renewable electricity from the orbiter's solar array, rather than drawing on the finite supply of thruster fuel. They also provide more precise control of pointing, which can enable higher data-rate communications through the orbiter's directional antenna.

Odyssey has worked at Mars for more than 10 years, which is longer than any other Mars mission in history. Besides conducting its own scientific observations, it serves as a communication relay for robots on the Martian surface. 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.

I bet NASA or really any of the space agencies can’t wait for the Quantum Physicists to figure out how to make communication devices that work via Quantum Entanglement. Then theoretically you won’t have to wait for anything at all and can see it all here on earth live as it happens. *Sigh* For now I hope they can get their Orbiter functional and position it correctly. I'm crossing my fingers NASA.

Another update:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/odyssey/odyssey20120619.html

Orbiter Out of Precautionary 'Safe Mode'
06.19.12
Mars Odyssey Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter has been taken out of a protective status called safe mode. Remaining steps toward resuming all normal spacecraft activities will probably be completed by next week.

Odyssey resumed pointing downward toward Mars on Saturday, June 16, leaving the Earth-pointed "safe mode" status that was triggered when one of its three primary reaction wheels stuck for a few minutes on June 8, Universal Time (June 7, Pacific Time). Mission controllers put the orbiter's spare reaction wheel into use in control of Odyssey's orientation while pointed downward, or 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," said Odyssey Project Manager Gaylon McSmith of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Controllers will continue characterizing the performance of the replacement wheel in coming days while assessing which other activities of the spacecraft, besides nadir pointing, can be performed reliably with reaction-wheel control of attitude. The spacecraft can also use thrusters for attitude control, though that method draws on the limited supply of propellant rather than on electricity from the spacecraft's solar array.

In returning to full service, Odyssey will first resume its communication relay function for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, and then will resume the orbiter's own scientific observations of Mars. As a priority, activities will resume for preparing Odyssey to serve as a communications relay for NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission.

Like many other spacecraft, Odyssey uses a set of three reaction wheels to control its attitude, or which way it is facing relative to the sun, Earth or Mars. Increasing the rotation rate of a reaction wheel inside the spacecraft causes the spacecraft itself to rotate in the opposite direction. The configuration in use from launch in 2001 until three days ago combined the effects of three wheels at right angles to each other to provide control in all directions. The replacement wheel is skewed at angles to all three others so that it could be used as a substitute for any one of them.

Odyssey has worked at Mars for more than 10 years, which is longer than any other Mars mission in history. Besides conducting its own scientific observations, it serves as a communication relay for robots on the Martian surface. 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.

This reminds me of Transformers Dark of the moon. Sounds to me like they have a secret mission that they don't want broadcast to the world. There are Martian Transformers up there! That much, we now know for sure. I wonder what else we'll learn during the coarse of this mission.