2001 Mars Odyssey

A Mars Science Odyssey     Ice mapping over the South Pole of Mars   Mars Odyssey is mapping the amount and distribution of chemical elements and minerals that make up the martian surface. The spacecraft has globally mapped many elements on the surface and most importantly, hydrogen distribution, which led scientists to discover vast amounts of water ice in the polar regions burried just beneath the surface. Odyssey discovered vast amounts of ice, not just on the ice caps, but in many areas just below the surface. Ice means water and "follow the water" was the Mars program's goal, at that time. Today it's "follow the carbon"-which could indicate the possibility of past or present life. The Odyssey team put in quite a lot of extra effort to ensure it's succesful arrival in orbit. The navigation team did a spectacular job, basically designing a new method of pinpointing the spacecraft's location. During Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI), the team hit the exact target in space they were shooting for, just a little spot in space after an enormously long journey. It was JPL's way of saying, yes, we haven't forgotten how to orbit Mars.   Odyssey viewing clouds over Olympus volcano Left: the pressure was on but the team delivered. Everyone in the Mars program was very grateful, from NASA headquarters all the way down to me.         This image of mine was released by the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) Team to illustrate their discovery of subsurface ice on Mars. This scene shows Odyssey before the GRS boom had even been deployed but already the hydrogen signal was loud and clear, indicating quite a lot of ice.   This is my most well-known image of Odyssey. The orbiter is shown over the Syrtis Major Planum, the dark volcanic area below the GRS boom. Odyssey can look for hot spots on the surface using it's infrard THEMIS instrument. THEMIS is the gold instrument on the bottom, to the right of the bottom solar panel.   April 7, 2001 Odyssey Launch Event, Kennedy Space Center, Florida Boeing Space Systems 2001 Mars Odyssey    I created nearly all of the 2001 mission artwork since the project began. It was very exciting interacting with the Odyssey mission managers and scientists over the years. Best of all was my Odyssey logo, above center, which was launched on the side of the Delta 2 rocket when Odyssey began it's 6 month trip to Mars on April 7, 2001. My wife and I were there to watch - click on the links below to see it.   My triumphant return to Kennedy Space Center My wife and I were at Kennedy Space Center for the Odyssey launch the same week as the 20th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch, STS-1. Just before this picture was taken I got to shake hands and talk briefly with veteran astronaut John Young, the mission commander on that historic flight. When a TV news crew heard about it they interviewed me, not about Odyssey but what it was like to be there 20 years later. It was a wonderful moment because 20 years ago I was only an interested observer and now I was part of my own launch - to Mars, no less. It was beyond cool.   2001: A "Mars" Odyssey? Imagination vs. reality Imagine that you were a big fan of the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey ever since it was released in 1968. And that decades later you found yourself actually working for and artistically representing NASA's big 2001 mission to Mars. Well, that's what happened to me and it's hard to imagine any career achievement better than that! I'd like to thank Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick for their mind-boggling film and also NASA's George Pace, the mission manager for bringing me onboard. The mission is still going on and although there are no astronauts on the real 2001 Odyssey our orbiter is nonetheless making one "Discovery" after another . . . like vast amounts of frozen water that suggest the possibility of life. Stay tuned because it's really starting to get interesting.

My 2001 Mars Odyssey postage stamps

Mars Surveyor 2001 Postage Stamps