June 28, 2012

Image Caption: NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft passes above Mars' south pole in this artist's concept illustration. The spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since October 24, 2001. Image credit: NASA/JPL

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

NASAs Mars Odyssey orbiter is back in business after the spacecraft found itself placed into safe mode earlier this month.

The spacecrafts flight team returned the orbiter back to full service this week after a two-week sequence of activities to recover Odyssey from safe mode.

The orbiter switched itself to safe mode when one of the three primary reaction wheels used for altitude control stuck for a few minutes on June 8.

NASA engineers determined that the sticking wheel was unreliable, so they switched the spacecraft to a spare one that had been unused since the missions April 7, 2001 launch.

Odyssey is now back in full, nominal operation mode using the replacement wheel, Steve Sanders, lead engineer for the Odyssey team at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, said in a press release.

Observations with Odysseys Thermal Emission Imaging System and its Gamma Ray Spectrometer resumed on the Red Planet on Monday. The orbiter also acts as a Mars rover relay for NASA.

The space agency said that it received data from its Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on Wednesday, showing that Odysseys relaying capabilities are up and going.

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NASA Engineers Fix Orbiter Millions Of Miles Away