ASU Mars instrument gets new lease on life as NASA extends Mars Odyssey mission
Friday, October 10, 2008 - 11:49
in Astronomy & Space
TEMPE, Ariz. - A six-minute rocket firing on Sept. 30 has put NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft on track for a new orbit around the Red Planet. The change, part of a two-year extension for the mission, will give an ASU-operated instrument carried on Odyssey greater sensitivity for mapping Martian minerals. The instrument is the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), a multi-band heat-sensing camera operated by ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility.