For the third time in two years NASA appears to have lost a spacecraft about Mars. The Mars Odyssey 2001 space probe was to have fired its main engine for 20 minutes at 7.26pm Pacific Time, with confirmation of a successful orbital insertion expected shortly after 7.56pm Pacific Time evening when Odyssey's time delayed signal was to have been reacquired by NASA's Deep Space Network at Goldstone.
However, so far no signal has been detected with the fate of the $300 million spacecraft unknown at this time.
"The flight team uplinked the sequence of commands that control the orbit insertion on October 15," said Odyssey project manager Matthew Landano in an earlier report.
Before going into orbit, the probe's fuel tanks — the size of two volleyballs — were pressurized and the hydraulic pipes warmed. Firing the main engine for 20 minutes burnt 262.9 kilograms (580 pounds) of fuel.
The probe's initial orbit, was to have been an oval shape, with an orbital period of 19 hours, that was to be gradually reduced in a difficult process known as
