The 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter still has its memory after all.
Scientists rebooted the spacecraft’s computer early Wednesday and successfully restored its systems.
Engineers feared the $151 million orbiter’s memory may have been corrupted after eight years on the job but discovered all was well.
The reboot also restored Odyssey’s backup system, which engineers had never used and had no idea whether it would work, a spokesman for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.
Memory loss would have meant scientists could not access the unit’s backup system.
Odyssey’s computer was rebooted with commands developed by JPL and Lockheed Martin Space Systems, which built the orbiter.
The commands were delivered from Lockheed Martin’s facility in south Jefferson County to powerful antennas in the Deep Space Network that is used to communicate with spacecraft.
It took nearly an hour for the commands to reach Odyssey and the unit to shut down, restart and send data back to Earth.
Odyssey is expected to resume its scientific study of the Red Planet next week, NASA said.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
