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Mission record

2001 Mars Odyssey

Also known as Mars Odyssey, Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter, 2001MarsOdyssey

NASA-Office of Space Science · Launched

Explore trajectory

Active · Active

The 2001 Mars Odyssey is the remaining part of the Mars Surveyor 2001 Project, which originally consisted of two separately launched missions, the Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter and the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander; the lander spacecraft was cancelled as part of the reorganization of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA. The orbiter's objective is a detailed mineralogical analysis of the planet's surface from orbit and measurement of the radiation environment, and it also acts as a communications relay for missions on the surface. It reached Mars on 24 October 2001 and used aerobraking to settle into an approximately 400 x 400 km polar science orbit. NASA's mission page lists it as an active mission with a mission duration of 2001 - ongoing.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Delta II 7425
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on a Delta II 7425

    The 2001 Mars Odyssey launched on 7 April 2001 at 15:02:22 UT (11:02:22 a.m. EDT), and the launch/orbital information page gives the same instant as 2001-04-07T15:02:22Z. NASA's mission page prints the launch as April 7, 2001, 11:02 am EST, an hour label that disagrees with NSSDCA's EDT for the same UT instant; the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved and the committed value is the UT one both NSSDCA pages print. The same NASA page prints Rocket Delta II 7925 where both NSSDCA pages print Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7425; that disagreement is recorded rather than resolved as well, and the committed launch vehicle is NSSDCA's Facts in Brief value, which is the rule this segment applies to every launch field. The spacecraft has a launch mass of 725.0 kg, including 348.7 kg of fuel.

    Earth

  2. Orbit insertion

    Inserted into an 18.6 hour capture orbit

    After a seven month cruise the spacecraft reached Mars on 24 October 2001 at 02:26 UT (23 October 10:26 p.m. EDT). The spacecraft used a 19.7 minute main-engine propulsive maneuver to transfer into an 18.6 hour elliptical capture orbit. NASA's mission page prints the same date as Oct. 24, 2001.

    Mars

  3. Milestone

    Settled into the polar science orbit after aerobraking

    The spacecraft used aerobraking until 11 January 2002, when it pulled out of the aerobraking orbit into a 201 x 500 km orbit. This orbit was trimmed over the next few weeks until it became a 2-hour, approximately 400 x 400 km polar science orbit on January 30, 2002.

    Mars

  4. Milestone

    Nominal 917 day mission completed and extended

    Data was collected from orbit until the end of the 917 day nominal mission in July 2004. The mission has been extended multiple times and, as of December 2022, continues to operate; NASA's own mission page, fetched on 2026-09-02, lists it under Active Mission and gives Mission Duration 2001 - ongoing.

    Mars

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • 2001 Mars Odyssey · Orbiter

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 2, 2026