<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=iso-8859-1"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=iso-8859-1"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=iso-8859-1"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>* Mars Odyssey Orbiter - November 12, 2012</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Long-Lived Orbiter Resumes Work With Fresh Equipment</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"PASADENA, Calif. -- The NASA Mars Odyssey orbiter has resumed duty after switching to a set of redundant equipment, including a main computer, that had not been used since before the spacecraft's 2001 launch.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Odyssey relayed data to Earth late Sunday that it received from NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars using the orbiter's fresh "B-side" radio for UHF (ultra-high frequency) communications. In plans for this week are relay opportunities for the newest Mars rover, Curiosity, and resumption of Odyssey's own scientific observations.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"The side-swap has gone well. All the subsystems that we are using for the first time are performing as intended," said Odyssey Project Manager Gaylon McSmith of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Like many spacecraft, this orbiter carries a pair of redundant main computers, to have a backup available if one fails. Odyssey's A-side computer and B-side computer each have several other redundant subsystems linked to just that computer.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Odyssey is already the longest-working spacecraft ever sent to Mars. The side swap was initiated last week in response to months of diagnostic data indicating that the A side's inertial measurement unit shows signs of wearing out. This gyroscope-containing mechanism senses changes in the spacecraft's orientation, providing important information for control of pointing the antenna, solar arrays and instruments."</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000">Global Martian Map: <a href="http://www.mars.asu.edu/maps/?layer=thm_dayir_100m_v11"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">http://www.mars.asu.edu/maps/?layer=thm_dayir_100m_v11</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">.</span></a></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"A simulated fly-through using the newly assembled imagery is available online at <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/missions/odyssey/20060313.html"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/missions/odyssey/20060313.html</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The fly-through plus tools for wandering across and zooming into the large image are at <a href="http://themis.asu.edu/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://themis.asu.edu/</span></a>."</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>DAILY MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) web site: (<a href="http://themis.la.asu.edu/latest.html"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://themis.asu.edu/gallery</span></a>)</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The Odyssey data are available through a new online access system established by the Planetary Data System at: <a href="http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/</span></a> </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000">Visit the Mars Odyssey Mission page at <a href="http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/index.html"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/index.html</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* <b>Mars Missions Status</b> - New Mars missions are being planned to include several new rover and sample collection missions. Check out the Mars Missions web page: <a href="http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/</span></a> and the Mars Exploration page: <a href="http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="font-size: 12px; font-family: Helvetica; "></span></div></body></html>