After eight years on the job, a Mars orbiter built in Colorado might have memory problems NASA hopes to fix this week.
The Mars Odyssey team — which includes engineers and scientists from Lockheed Martin Space Systems in south Jefferson County and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. — has decided to reboot the $151 million spacecraft’s computer.
A key risk is that the procedure might affect any memory that’s intact.
The Odyssey was launched in April 2001 on a planned two-year mission to scrutinize Mars’ chemistry, measure its radiation and look for evidence of water.
Already extended three times, the mission is also a primary relay of data from rovers on the surface.
Odyssey’s computer memory may have been corrupted by the vast amounts of space radiation bombarding it since the previous reboot occurred in late 2003, JPL scientists say.
Rebooting the computer will tell scientists whether backup systems are available, JPL spokesman Guy Webster said.
The reboot code will be sent Monday morning to Odyssey from Lockheed’s Waterton Canyon facility southwest of Denver via the Deep Space Network, a system of powerful antennas on Earth used to communicate with spacecraft. There and back, the process is expected to take nearly an hour before scientists know the outcome.
Eight Lockheed engineers work full time “flying” and communicating with Odyssey, though “about 1,000 Lockheed people touched it” during its construction and launch, Lockheed spokesman Gary Napier said.
Odyssey’s discoveries have included confirmation of water ice at Mars’ polar cap, a complex volcanic system and gullies carved by melting snow.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
